Hide & Go Seek
by Teej
Summary: Jim and Blair match wits with the Sevengali-like director of Cascade's New Aquarium.


This story is dedicated in loving memory to my beloved Puddy-tat.  
  
My sweetie.  
  
I know I'll see you someday soon, bud!  
  
April 3, 1997- April 18th, 2001  
  
  
  
Hide and Go Seek  
  
Quick note: Achille Legault is pronounced (Ay-shul Luh-galt). It is the French form of the name where the 'ch' is pronounced soft, like 'sh'.  
  
  
  
1 Major Crimes Bullpen  
  
Without taking his eyes from the monitor or moving his left hand from the keyboard, Blair Sandburg reached over with his other hand and snagged the telephone receiver off it's cradle, ending it insistent jangling. His left hand continued flitting over the keys like a wayward moth.  
  
"Sandburg." He said, nestling the phone in the crook of his neck and shoulder, freeing up his hand to join the other.  
  
"The Blair Sandburg?" an unfamiliar male voice asked in his ear. Blair felt a sudden jolt of adrenaline shoot through him as he froze in place, eyeing his monitor. The voice on the other end held a trace of an accent.  
  
"Speaking," Blair said warily, his ears hearing the squeak of a chair off to his right. Annoyance joined alarmed as he realized Jim had been unconsciously keeping tabs on him. The voice on the other end of the line gave a slight chuckle.  
  
"Welcome to the world of academic outcasts, mon ami. This is Professor Legault, let me just say off the record, I don't believe a word of what anyone says about you!"  
  
Blair almost melted into the chair. He turned slightly, smiling reassurance at his partner. Jim was gazing pointedly at him, curiosity and concern etching themselves on his face. Blair shook his hand at him, waving him off and juggling the phone as he sat back. He gave out an uneasy chuckle.  
  
"Professor Legault. What can I do for you?" He saw Jim start to frown as the other detective began trying to connect the name to his memory.  
  
"You can relax to start with, Mr. Sandburg. You and I both have had our share of notoriety. This isn't about that at all, let me reassure you. Besides, I don't believe a word of what anyone says about you. I know you a little better than that." The professor's voice held a little more warmth and humor. Blair looked a little sheepish and glanced at Jim, who was pointing at his ear. Blair shook his head no.  
  
"I appreciate that sir." Blair said, still feeling uneasy. The professor chuckled.  
  
"I also know about that skepticism you are feeling now. That's not why I called, mon ami." Blair's eyes grew wide as he started to flush with embarrassment, he turned from Jim, his hands flying back to his computer.  
  
"What can I do for you?" Blair asked again. Legault chuckled.  
  
"I need to get a hold of my wandering Assistant Director of Rehabilitation. I pulled the few strings I still have left at that rat hole they call a university and they gave me your number."  
  
"You need to get a hold of Sam?"  
  
"Yes, yes. She was supposed to sail in yesterday." Blair stopped in his tracks again. His eyes large.  
  
"Uhh, Sam's had some trouble recently, professor. She hasn't contacted you?"  
  
"Not since she left Juneau. What kind of trouble, Mr. Sandburg? That sounds ominous."  
  
"Um.I really should let Sam tell you. She ran into a some trouble on the way down."  
  
"Nothing serious, I hope." Legault started.  
  
"Well.In some ways yes, but let me reassure you everything is fine. Sam's been a little under the weather.I'm sure she just forgot to call you."  
  
"You certainly have this old man curious now, Mr. Sandburg." Legault hinted. Blair shook his head.  
  
"Please Professor. Call me Blair."  
  
"Shouldn't that be Detective?" Legault's impish humor sparkled. "I am full of curiosity, mon ami, how you've fared since that press conference. I'd love to hear your side of the story."  
  
"Maybe some other time, sir. Listen, would you like a number where she can be reached?"  
  
"If she's been ill, let her get some more rest.I know how that girl pushes herself, but have her call me when she's feeling better. Didn't she say she's moored at the Bayshore Marina?"  
  
"Originally, sir. But the boat is currently in dry-dock north of here. Sam's been staying with me for the time being. At least until she gets her boat back."  
  
"Dry-dock? Aahh, there is more to this! All right mon ami, will you tell her I called, and have her call me when she is up to it? It's nothing serious. I just needed to touch base about the Aquarium, and I have some things for her."  
  
"I can do that, sir." Blair replied.  
  
"And Blair.?"  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"I don't believe for a minute you committed fraud.there's too much integrity in you! Listen to you, mon ami! Calling people sir." The professor chuckled. "You always come up with a surprise or two! I hope to see you soon.Au revoir!"  
  
"Uh." Blair started, but the line went dead. He swiveled in his seat and raised a curious eyebrow at a watching Jim, held the phone up, shrugged and set it on it's cradle.  
  
"Sam's boss." He said by way of explanation.  
  
"What's he calling you for?" Jim asked, looking a bit perplexed.  
  
"Ah! I've known Legault forever. He's Sam's mentor, taught her just about everything she knows. It doesn't surprise me a bit that he's asked her to come on board the Aquarium staff."  
  
"That didn't answer the question, Chief." Jim said. Blair shrugged.  
  
"He was looking for Sam."  
  
"But why'd he call here?"  
  
"Cause I'm the only one in town he knows who can get a hold of her quickly?"  
  
Jim's frown deepened. He propped his elbow on his desk and idly scratched at the side of his head. Nobody could miss the fluorescent blue cast on his right arm.  
  
"Doesn't strike me as normal that Samantha would forget something like that."  
  
"She's acting normal." Blair said distractedly as he picked up the receiver. Jim raised a curious eyebrow at him. His partner didn't sound the least bit worried. Blair glanced at him, not hearing a response.  
  
"C'mon man, she's been through a rough time. Sam bottles things up, crawls into a clamshell. It's why she's been so quiet the last couple of weeks. Besides healing from those cuts."  
  
"It's like she's not there, Chief. She's too damn quiet. If it wasn't for the fact I know someone else is in the Loft, you wouldn't be able to tell she's there." Blair grinned at Jim.  
  
"I told you she's neat as a pin. And she obeys the House Rules. Besides, isn't that a little extreme? She did grill fish for us the other night."  
  
"You know what I mean. For a Sandburg, she's way too quiet."  
  
"You expected her to be bouncing off the walls?" Blair teased, beginning to stab numbers into his phone.  
  
"Well certainly a little more active than she has been." Jim admitted.  
  
"Jim, she's out of her element."  
  
"She's depressed, Chief. Anyone can see it. She won't even come out and watch TV."  
  
"Of course she is. And Sammy's not a sport's fan. I think I told you that already."  
  
"She doesn't eat enough either." Jim groused. Blair only grinned at him, phone to his ear. Jim sighed, annoyed somewhat with Blair's attitude. He glanced around his littered desk top, spotted a broken off piece of coat hanger wire and snagged it up in his left fingers.  
  
"You calling her?" he asked, deftly slipping the wire through the top of his cast. Reaching a certain spot, he gently wiggled it and sighed in relief. The itching was driving him crazy. Blair, watching him, grinned all the more.  
  
"Yeah. Sure you don't have fleas in there Jim?"  
  
"Be glad you're not wearing one," Jim growled. He paused, looked thoughtful and added. "Of course, I could arrange one for you."  
  
"And who would get your paperwork done?"  
  
"You have a point."  
  
"Be glad I'm willing to do it.seeing you're somewhat limited."  
  
"That and Simon is still bent about that whole Ritter affair."  
  
"Let's not mention Simon, shall we?" Blair groaned. Jim only smirked, maneuvering the wire around to another spot. He glanced at Blair. "Why isn't she answering?"  
  
"Probably went for a walk."  
  
"She hasn't been out of the Loft in days, Chief. What makes you think she's out for a  
  
walk?"  
  
"She's been going out. Been camping in the chairs on the deck a lot."  
  
"That's not what I call going out." Blair held a hand up to Jim as he got their answering machine.  
  
"Sammy? It's Blair, call me when you get in." He looked at Jim.  
  
"She's just taking it slow, Jim. The doctor did tell her not to push herself. You know that. What's with this mother-hen routine anyway?" Blair asked, a twinkle in his eyes as he hung up the phone. He knew perfectly well that Jim was in 'protector' mode.  
  
"I just don't like to see someone all shut down like that." Jim grumbled, purposely not looking at his partner. He continued his seek and scratch mission. Blair smiled.  
  
"I've been watchin' her too Jim. She's doing all right."  
  
"Only all right? For cryin' out loud, Chief, she's young, pretty and available. She should be dating, active, dancing, something. Instead she looks like she's gained thirty years and she's too thin."  
  
"Young, pretty, and available?" Blair grinned at him, mischievously. "Now why would you be noticing that about my cousin?" Jim glared at him.  
  
"You know damned good and well what I meant. She isn't acting normal." He growled.  
  
"Normal by whose standards?" Blair prodded. "I know her, and she's acting normal. And Sammy's never been the party type."  
  
"How old is she? 28? She should have an active social life."  
  
"Kinda hard to do when you're concentrating on surviving, Jim."  
  
"You have an active social life," Jim pointed out, he paused. "Better make that an overactive social life."  
  
"I'm not Sam. And she's not me. Despite us being related, not all Sandburg's act alike."  
  
Jim extracted his wire and heaved a sigh. "Look, Chief. The girl is stressed out. Anyone who knows what to look for can see it. I wouldn't entirely rule out CIS either. Maybe we could get Simon to let her see the department shrink?"  
  
"She may be having a Critical Incident reaction, but she's had worse, Jim. You know that. She doesn't need the shrink. Sam'll be fine." Blair replied reassuringly. Jim only snorted softly in disbelief. Blair glanced at the clock hanging in the Bullpen.  
  
"Look if it'll make you feel better, let's take her to lunch. We haven't really had a chance to do that since Simon pinned us to desk duty."  
  
"I could go for that."  
  
"So long as it's not Wonderburger!" Blair added quickly. Jim grinned.  
  
"Mr. Tube Steak?"  
  
"Uh uh, no way! No mystery meat!"  
  
"You're starting to sound like Carolyn." Jim groused.  
  
"I am not loading any more cholesterol into my system." Blair declared.  
  
"If we're taking your cousin out to eat, she needs protein. Me too, for that matter. Gotta get these bones to knit together." Jim held up the cast. Blair sighed.  
  
"Jim, it's summer out there.we hit 90 again today. Something light would be better to eat. How about Chinese?"  
  
"And be hungry again in an hour?" Jim looked hurt.  
  
"Thai?"  
  
"How about a compromise? Let's try Black Angus?"  
  
"Steak?!" Blair exclaimed, "For lunch? On a 90 degree day? Knowing you, you'd be asleep 15 minutes after your last bite!"  
  
"Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad.." Jim said slowly. Blair paused and cast a quick glance at him.  
  
"There is that.." he muttered. Jim smiled in triumph.  
  
"Ha! C'mon. Let's go pick her up." He stood up, snagging a dark blue short- sleeved shirt off the back of his chair. Despite having his hand and wrist in a cast, Jim still wore his gun in its belt holster. He had made it a point to practice shooting left handed. To Blair's never ending amusement, Jim was still an extremely good shot, but only because Jim was stretching his senses to counteract his temporary disability. He slipped the cast through the proper shirt-sleeve and shrugged the shirt on over his T-shirt.  
  
"Let me get out of this thing." Blair sighed and turned to shut down the computer.  
  
"Why does Legault sound familiar, Chief?"  
  
"Professor Legault?"  
  
"Yeah? You spiked when you answered the phone."  
  
Blair glanced at Jim as he rose from chair.  
  
"You were monitoring me again, man."  
  
"Call it a default setting, why'd you spike?"  
  
"Default my ." Blair started and cut short, realizing Rhonda was in the room with them. "I didn't recognize his voice right away. Happy?" He snagged his own shirt off his chair, and led the way to the door. Jim shrugged.  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Man, you gotta back off the monitoring routine."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's just so.over protective! I'm not goin' anywhere."  
  
"With you, Chief? Anything can happen. It's just second nature."  
  
"Un-second nature it! " Blair's hands flew. "You've been driving me nuts since we got back to Cascade."  
  
"Hey, according to you I'm just acting normal."  
  
"Yeah well, cease and desist for a while!"  
  
"Just tell me about Legault." Jim replied and ignored Blair's request.  
  
"Professor Legault was fired 6 years ago from his position at Rainier University because they didn't like his unorthodox methods in handling Orcas. He claimed to have cracked their language, but when they went to test him on it, he failed. The University had to save face and they tossed him out on his ear."  
  
"An Academic reject.gee why does that sound familiar?" Jim asked, his voice full of healthy loathing.  
  
"Don't go there, Jim." Blair sighed.  
  
"Did he?" Jim asked.  
  
"Did he what?"  
  
"Crack their language?"  
  
"I don't know. He had some great theories, but the whale he dealt with most died of kidney failure, and the one he had to switch to was fairly new."  
  
"Doesn't the EPA, PETA and all those environmental groups get a little uptight when scientists start messing with Killer Whales?"  
  
"They do if it's a healthy, wild one. Legault's done wonders in rehabbing ones that have been disabled, either by natural circumstances or unnatural circumstances."  
  
"By man, you mean." Jim stated as they approached the elevators. Blair stabbed the button.  
  
"By man, yes. Some of them can't be returned to the wild, and the gene pool is too vital. So he rehabs them for seaquariums around the world. He's highly active in breeding programs too. To my knowledge, Sea World Orlando has been able to breed and raise a Killer Whale in captivity. It really doesn't surprise me that he's been asked to head up the Aquarium here. They've been pushing for an Aquarium along the lines of Sea World and Monterey for years. He's a natural at this sort of stuff. And Sammy." Blair grinned, waving a hand as the doors whooshed open. "Sammy's at home in that type of environment." They both entered the lift.  
  
"She works with whales too? Seems they'd swallow her like an hors'douevre."  
  
"She's done a little work with them, but it's the sea otters she loves. They're a little easier for her to handle too. They get about the size of a Rottie."  
  
"Hmmm, I thought they'd be smaller than that?"  
  
"When was the last time you went to an Aquarium, Jim?"  
  
"Actually." Jim reluctantly admitted. Blair looked at him, amused and surprised.  
  
"Never? Man have you missed out! We'll get Sam to get us in to the Seattle Aquarium.or hey? Maybe I can talk her into getting us behind the scenes at the new one here? That ought to perk up her mood!" Blair bounced a little, warming to the thought. Jim shrugged, looking skeptical.  
  
"I dunno, Chief."  
  
"Aw, why not? You'll like it, I know you will!"  
  
"I'm not big on zoos, Sandburg."  
  
"If Achille Legault is behind this place, it won't be like any zoo you've ever seen!"  
  
Bayshore Marina Jetty  
  
  
  
It was a gloriously hot, late summer day in Cascade. People were everywhere. At Bayshore Marina, the majority of boats were out on the Sound, a colorful eclectic mixture of sailboats and cruisers, catamarans and kayaks, inner-tubers and hot doggers on jet-skis. Folks milled about the docks, readying or disembarking from their crafts. The sounds of boat engines, the ringing and slapping of rigging, seagulls, and people laughing, filled the air. For the adventurous few, fishing could be done from the jetty. That long stretch of boulders and rocks that provided Bayshore Marina its protection from the storms off Puget Sound and the Straight of Juan De Fuca.  
  
At the furthest tip of the jetty, one lone person had crawled down to the high tide line, found a place to wedge herself into the sun-bathed rocks and sat staring out at the water. Arms wrapped around her legs, she slowly played with a crumpled up piece of paper. Hazel eyes, dark and dispirited, saw nothing of the activity going on in front of her. She had been sitting so still that a few seagulls had ventured close, keeping one greedy eye on her at all times as they pecked their way through the sea wrack, mussels, limpets, anemones and starfish clinging to their man-made salt water paradise.  
  
Samantha sat just a bare few feet above the water, letting the gentle slapping of the waves on the rocks lull her troubled thoughts. She rolled the paper in her fingers.  
  
It was the day after she had had to claim the slip space. Sam heaved a sigh and stared at the crumpled and twisted receipt. Already, a 35 foot Catamaran was in the slip she had planned on making her new home. Marina space in most of the region being a cutthroat, snooze-and-you-lose, type of environment. Waiting lists were horrendous, easily 8 months to several years. Sam sighed again and stared out over the water. The Sundogs would be out of commission for a good long while.  
  
  
  
News from Prince Rupert wasn't that encouraging, as she had found out that morning. The main supporting rib for the bow of her vessel had been split in the impact with Ritter's cruiser. Not only were they going to have to repair the initial damage caused by the collision, most of the boats' front would have to be removed to replace the wooden ribbing. The insurance company wanted to total the vessel, but Sam had insisted on the Sundogs being repaired. At least she had a boat company with an extremely good reputation at repairing the type of damage caused by the incident. They were now working on the craft and, reluctantly, the insurance company was providing funds to get the work paid for. Still, it was going to take months.  
  
Which left the question of where she was now. Sam stared at the piece of paper. She flat didn't know what to make of living with Blair and his partner. Blair was one thing, but Jim Ellison? She still felt guilty that she had broken the guy's wrist and the very sight of his cast was enough to turn her stomach into knots. Yet he had been courteous, nice, and outgoing towards her, if a little demanding. How on earth could he stand her? And then there was Blair.  
  
The first time she saw him slipping on a shoulder holster as he prepared for work one morning had really done a lot to hammer home the fact that, yes, he was a cop. Then there was the fact that when he did get home and eat, the fatigues of the day would catch up with him. It was the same with Jim in that regard too. The stresses of a being an inner-city Detective had not been lost on her. Then having to readjust to her being in their home? Being laid up with a broken wrist to boot? A tiny sardonic smile twitched at her lip. Talk about fish out of water.  
  
After having been drilled on the house rules in regards to a man who had senses well out of the normal range, Sam found herself being extremely paranoid of touching anything in the loft. Even the few times that she had ventured out to watch television when they were gone, she had made absolutely sure that the remote was exactly in the place where she had found it. Normally neat anyway, she had even made sure to wash any dishes she used, dry them and put them away before they came home at night.  
  
The only place she had actually relaxed in had been Blair's room. Yet, when the two were home, the entire Loft had such a pleasant atmosphere, a sense of home. Sam closed her eyes, trying to ignore the headache that threatened her again. What a paradox, she felt uncomfortably out of place in a place that felt comfortable. Jim Ellison himself being just as contrary.  
  
His outward manner still screamed of cop, yet at home he was just an ordinary good ol' boy. A sport's nut, who liked to cook, and was about as neat as her in regards to his living space. Just your typical guy, although acting a little too courteous to an unexpected houseguest and feeling frustrated about the cast he was stuck wearing. Not to mention his tendency to expect a person to do exactly as he said no questions asked. Sam didn't dare challenge his need to control, she was a guest in his house and she had broken his wrist. She sighed again. Considering her need for down time, it wasn't exactly all that unpleasant giving up control to someone else.  
  
It was even stranger seeing her notoriously messy cousin actually cleaning up after himself. She hadn't really begun to notice all this until after the first week there, when the pain killers had run out, the stitches in her back had been removed and the doctor told her she was doing fine. Physically, she was doing well, but even she knew she was dwelling in a fog of emotional upheaval. She couldn't bring herself to think about the Denali and its crew. So she focused on the one thing that really did concern her the most, her home. Even that didn't bring about much comfort. Sam closed her eyes, leaned her head to one side against the rocks, and listened to the sounds of the waves.  
  
"Head down to the Marina." Blair said as Jim turned the truck onto Prospect Ave. heading towards home. Blair was ensconced in his corner of the pick-up while Jim drove, carefully. Jim frowned.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Sam had to give up the slip space, she'll have stayed down there for a while. To be around the water."  
  
"They won't hold it?"  
  
"Not for more than a few weeks. Just trust me on this call, she'll be down there."  
  
Jim shrugged as he cruised his truck past their home and headed the few blocks to the Marina.  
  
"Great day to be out," he mused. "I could take some time." he thumped his wrist on the steering wheel.  
  
"And Simon would have another conniption."  
  
"Only because of what happened with you up north."  
  
"It was not my fault!" Blair responded as they slowed for the nearly bumper to bumper traffic.  
  
"He wasn't too happy about having to go up there." Jim replied dryly.  
  
"He didn't have to."  
  
"Somebody had to get us out of Cormiere's clutches." Jim added. Blair shuddered then grinned.  
  
"He was intense, wasn't he?"  
  
"I wouldn't quite describe it that way. This traffic is ridiculous." Jim grumbled gripping the steering wheel in his left hand. He leaned forward and groped with his bulky, awkward, plaster bound right hand under the seat. He sat back in frustration.  
  
"Grab the light will ya? Maybe we can get them to scatter."  
  
Blair began to chuckle. "Don't let traffic get in the way of Ellison and his steak! That's unethical, man. C'mon, we'll never find a parking spot, just zoom in on where she's at and I'll go get her."  
  
"We could do that." Jim agreed, pursing his lips slightly. He sat back, turned his head slightly, and concentrated. Blair watched him, amused. Jim frowned, leaned forward a little and looked out toward the jetty through Blair's side of the truck.  
  
"End of the jetty." he remarked thoughtfully. Blair laughed.  
  
"Now that was quick!"  
  
"It's gonna take you at least fifteen minutes to get out to where she is, what's she doing clear out there?"  
  
"Pull over and let me out. Why don't you call ahead for reservations? Make sure we can get a seat?" Blair suggested. Jim glanced at him, then nodded, pulling the truck over along a long line of parked cars.  
  
"Sounds like a plan. Don't mess around, there's a top sirloin out there calling my name." He fumbled for his cell phone, scowling slightly at his encased fingers.  
  
"You'll be asleep in fifteen minutes flat after you're done eating." Blair said as he popped open the door. "I'd almost bet on it."  
  
"You'd lose." Jim grinned as Blair swung the door shut. Blair shot him a challenging look before jogging off to the jetty. Ellison pulled back out into traffic.  
  
  
  
What looked like a simple quick walk to the end of the jetty indeed took much longer than normal. Climbing up and over the large rocks and boulders hampered progress. Blair was grateful for the fitness routine he and Jim had started on once he had gotten out of the academy; although Jim was pretty well restricted from most of his normal exercises due to his fracture, at the moment. Still, he wasn't overexerted when he did reach the end. He paused a moment, looking around, enjoying the cooling breeze on a hot summer day. Subconsciously, his fingers toyed with his short dark curls. There definitely was one perk in having shorter hair. Presently he spied what he was searching for and paused.  
  
Sam appeared to be asleep, leaned back against a sun baked rock, curled up into a defensive little ball. If it wasn't for the occasional flick of her fingers and a mangled, twisted piece of paper, he'd have swore she was. It pained his heart to still see the smudges of fatigue under her eyes and the lost look. He drew in a breath of air and made his way over to her.  
  
"Sammy?"  
  
The sound of her name being called jerked her out of her thoughts like a snapped rubber band. Her eyes flew open as she looked around, startled. Seeing Blair standing on the rocks just above her, pulling his sunglasses down on his nose to look at her, only added to her surprise. She scrambled to her feet, the boaters she wore, no socks, almost slipping on the boulders.  
  
"Careful there!" Blair grinned as she stood up and looked at him.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" She exclaimed. Blair's head bobbed.  
  
"Looking for you?" he asked. Her shoulders dropped as she stared at him.  
  
"You know what I mean," she said. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"  
  
"Lunch time." Blair grinned as she began to climb up out of her spot. Gaining the rock he was on, she straightened. He poked his sunglasses back up with a finger.  
  
"We got a break today. Thought we'd take you to lunch." He smiled. Sam instantly tensed.  
  
"We?" her head turned, searching the marina and the jetty.  
  
"Jim and me? Why?"  
  
"Where's he at?" she asked. Blair frowned.  
  
"Circling the neighborhood, it's a bit crowded out here today. What's up?"  
  
She looked back at him relaxing a fraction. Blair could see the turmoil going on behind her eyes.  
  
"Listen I appreciate the thought, but I really."  
  
"Sam, c'mon.I know I've been real busy since you got here, it's a chance for us to get together. You need to get out too." He cajoled. Sam just looked at him, her eyes narrowing a hair.  
  
"Please don't start the 'you need to get out more' routine."  
  
"Would I do that?" Blair asked feigning shock. "I'm more along the line of 'let's get out and do something together' routine." He beamed a smile at her.  
  
"What did he do? Locate me out here for you?"  
  
"Who Jim? Well. yes as a matter of fact." Sam's eyes rolled. She heaved a sigh, dropped her face into her hand and rubbed at her forehead. Blair frowned slightly.  
  
"Hey.he just wants to take us out to lunch. This kinda expedited things."  
  
"Blair.I'm not really in the mood to go out to lunch." She said softly, rubbing at her eyes and glancing away.  
  
"Try again, cuz. What's happened? I know you had to give the slip space up today."  
  
"Even more reason why I don't particularly want to go out to lunch. Don't do the pity thing on me okay?" She replied, testily. Blair's hands came up placatingly.  
  
"Whoa! That's not why we want to take you out to lunch. Why are you so defensive around Jim? He's not gonna hurt you."  
  
"How can that guy st." She started then just shook her head. "Look, go have lunch, enjoy it. I just want to hang here for a while okay?"  
  
"Nope." Blair replied, folding his arms. He gazed at his shorter cousin, noting the slight disarray her very long curls had gotten in, despite being pulled back in a pony band. A slow smirk appeared on his lips.  
  
"What's happened?" he asked again. For a few brief seconds their eyes locked. Sam finally threw an arm in the air, waving the twisted piece of paper.  
  
"Inland Passage Boat Builders called this morning." She finally relented. "They found more damage than they originally thought was there." Her shoulders dropped in defeat. Blair gazed at her, watching the troubled eyes a moment.  
  
"Plus these guys aren't giving the deposit back." She sighed, then looked up at him, a little chagrined.  
  
"What did the boat builders say?" Blair asked softly, adjusting his balance as a stronger breeze swirled around them. Sam dropped her head, and he could see her struggling with a surge of emotion. She held her hands out, making a sign suspiciously like a 'time out'.  
  
"The impact from the cruiser.caused the main support strut in the bow to greenstick. The spiral started under the ribbing where they couldn't see it until after they removed the broken ribs." Sam drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out, looking up and away from Blair. "To fix it, they have to remove a good portion of the bow in order to get in there and replace the strut. And it's gonna cost another three-four thousand dollars, Canadian. I talked to the insurance company and they are having a fit. It's pushing the repair date clear into November or December, depending on whether or not the Insurance Company will pay for the new bid." Sam looked down at the rocks, then reached up and rubbed at her forehead. "You fork out tons of money a year for insurance coverage and when you need it, they fight you for it," She paused, sighed, and shook her head.  
  
"I'm too damned far away to get up there and see the stuff for myself, and I have a ferocious headache." Blair looked thoughtful, knowing part of the reason her boat was in its current state was because of him.  
  
"Getting something to eat will help with the headache." He said softly. "I know you haven't bothered with breakfast." Her head lifted, and he could see the challenge beginning in her yes. He raised a hand, holding it off.  
  
"I'm sorry about the 'Dogs, Sam. I'll do whatever I can to help out, there. You know I will. Hell, I'm the one responsible for putting that hole there in the first place. Let's go eat, okay? We'll figure out something to do." He slipped a hand on her shoulder, dismayed at the tightness of the muscles there. He began to lead the way back up the jetty.  
  
"Oh yeah." he said as she reluctantly followed. "Achille called me at work."  
  
He was just leaping onto another boulder when he heard her sharp intake of breath. He turned and looked back, seeing the look of pure shock on her face.  
  
"Oh shit!" she breathed. She suddenly darted forward joining him on his rock and grabbed for his cell phone. Her fingers were almost on it when he twisted, stopping her with a hand on her wrist and his hip nearly in her stomach.  
  
"Hey!" he chuckled, pulling her hand away, blocking any further attempts to grab it. "You can call him later."  
  
"Blair! I forgot I was supposed to call him! Let me use the phone!" She protested.  
  
"Later, Achille's not in a hurry. He said to call when you were feeling better."  
  
"I'm feeling fine, let me use the phone!"  
  
"Not now! We're going to lunch, then you can use the phone. Don't worry Sam, he's not in any hurry, he told me so himself."  
  
"Blair!" Sam snapped angrily. "He's my boss, let me call him, it's my job we're talking about!"  
  
"Hey, if you want the phone, you gotta eat first." Blair said beginning to bounce on his toes. "Plus." he added. "You've got to catch me!" With a triumphant bark of a laugh he suddenly took off at a run, jumping from rock to rock. Sam swore.  
  
"Blair!" She yelled, and took off after him.  
  
  
  
On the street, Jim had circled the neighborhood once, then decided to pull into the fire lane in front of the Marina; the police lights on his visor were pulled down and visible to all. He sat leaned back in his seat, cast propped up on the steering wheel, left elbow hanging out the driver's side window, Jags cap pulled slightly down over his eyes and watching the interaction between his partner and Sam, clear out on the end of the jetty. He could've easily overheard the conversation but elected not to, since the day Sam had arrived in Cascade and voiced her worries over his eavesdropping. Instead he just readjusted his vision to watch them. He could see her protesting to Blair, then telling him something important. Blair listening with compassion. They then had begun to head his way when Blair said something to her, which stopped her in her tracks. No doubt he had mentioned something about her boss looking for her. She suddenly grew quite animated with agitation as she tried to take his cell phone off of (FROM)him and Blair good naturedly blocked her attempts. Then his partner burst away with sudden energy obviously egging his shorter cousin to try and catch him.  
  
For several seconds Jim watched with amusement as Sam ran after Blair. He knew Blair was in tip-top shape. Sam proved nimble and very fast, no doubt due to life on a sailboat. For several minutes she struggled to gain on Blair, then began to overtake him. She had almost succeeded in reaching him when her foot shot out from underneath her. In an instant Jim sat forward, watching in alarm. Sam began to dive headlong, her footing lost, her hands flying out to protect her from crashing into the rocks. He was convinced she was about to take a bad spill when she slapped her hands onto a rock and somehow swung forward, using the momentum to land with both feet on a rock lower down. She stopped, panted hard for air, and leaned into the rock she still had both hands on. Blair immediately pulled up. Jim was out of the truck and moving.  
  
Blair returned to her instantly concerned.  
  
"Are you all right?!"  
  
Bobbing her head, she was panting hard, looking up at him with a glare in her eyes. She reached a visibly shaking hand up to the loosened band in her hair and pulled it out.  
  
"I just want." she gasped, "to use the.damn phone!"  
  
"Nope! You gotta come to lunch with us first, then you can call."  
  
"Blair!" she gasped, still breathing hard, her whole frame shaking. "I just about.planted my .face in this rock." She sagged against the boulder. "Let me use.the damn phone!"  
  
"C'mon, let me help you out." Blair said, holding his hand down to her, his fingers wiggling.  
  
"Let me.use the phone first!" She demanded. Blair only grinned, shaking his head. She was just slipping the pony band onto her wrist, dropping her head, still trying to catch her breath when another voice demanded,  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Ellison suddenly appeared in view. Sam groaned. Blair looked at his partner, startled, just as Jim cuffed him across the back of his shoulder blade. Blair staggered.  
  
"Hey man!" he protested. Jim looked at him, aggravated.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded. He held his good hand down to Sam and snapped his fingers.  
  
"C'mon." His voice barked. She shot a defiant look up at him and stopped. His own eyes held a mix of concern, irritation and his usual authority. He looked at Blair.  
  
"I just saw all this, Sandburg! She's in no condition to be doing a hundred yard dash over rocks!"  
  
"I beg your pardon!?" Sam snapped up at him. Jim just shot her a look, pinning her in place and snapped his fingers again. There was no arguing with that look.  
  
"C'mon." His voice clipped out.  
  
"Chill out Jim! We were just messing around." Blair said calmly.  
  
"Messing around is one thing." He said looking pointedly at Sam again. Reluctantly she took his hand. He pulled her up to their level.  
  
"This is almost suicidal," he said flatly, waving his cast at the jetty in general. Sam was trying to push his hand away. His grip suddenly shifted, flipping her hand over.  
  
"Let me see the other one," he ordered.  
  
"I'm fine," she gasped.  
  
"I want to see the other one," he stated again, meeting her eyes. Sam heaved a sigh and held her palms up. Blair meanwhile was doing his best to hide a big grin.  
  
"Relax Jim, we're fine, just horsin' around a little."  
  
"That kind of horsing around on these rocks could lead to a world of hurt." Jim clipped out, glancing at the scrapes on Sam's hands. "And you aren't in the right shape to do it." He said directly to her.  
  
"Yes dear," she replied sarcastically. "Can I have my hands back now?"  
  
"Nope." Jim said, ignoring her remarks. He started leading the way back to the Marina, nudging her forwards with his impaired fingers gently pushing on her right shoulder blade and refusing to let go of her hand. Neatly guiding her along the rocks, he could literally feel her tense up at his close proximity to her.  
  
"Oh for cryin' out loud!" she muttered as she stumbled. His cast caught her just under the elbow, helping her back up. Blair chuckled.  
  
"Don't fight it Sam, he's in one of his moods!"  
  
"We're gonna have a little chat about this later, Chief." Jim growled.  
  
"I just wanted to use the phone! And I am fine!" Sam snapped.  
  
"Your heart rate is doing triple time." Jim stated flatly. "You just got through, not two weeks ago, overexerting yourself to the point of collapse. You aren't in any shape to be boulder hopping." Behind them, Blair was chuckling.  
  
"You are, like, so intense!" he joked.  
  
"And you shouldn't be encouraging it."  
  
"All I wanted to do is use the phone!" Sam protested as Jim jumped ahead of her to the edge of the jetty and insisted on helping her down off the last rock. He released her hand as she jerked it away. Blair landed next to Jim, smiling hugely.  
  
"If you want to use a phone, here." Jim said fumbling awkwardly for his own.  
  
"No!" Blair protested, stopping Jim as he began to hand the phone to Sam, she was about to take it when Blair added,  
  
"I told her she couldn't call anyone until after she ate lunch!"  
  
Jim abruptly snatched the phone up out of Sam's fingers.  
  
"Blair!" she snapped. Jim looked at his partner, holding the phone easily out of her reach. A slow smile spread across his lips.  
  
"That's not a bad idea, Chief." He looked back at Sam.  
  
"After lunch." he said flatly.  
  
"I don't barkin' believe this!" Sam snarled and threw her hands in the air.  
  
"Which is waiting for us, c'mon." He said, neatly catching her elbow in his good hand. He steered her towards the truck. Sam jerked her arm away and stalked towards the pick-up.  
  
"All right all right!" She snapped.  
  
"The fire lane!? Jim that's despicable!" Blair suddenly announced upon seeing the location of Jim's truck.  
  
"Hey I had to park somewhere, besides, we got 10 minutes to get our reservation." His longer strides took him quickly past Sam. He opened the truck door for her, stepping back as she stopped. She looked at Blair.  
  
"You first!" she snapped. Blair began to laugh. With both hands he pushed on her arm.  
  
"Get in there!" he ordered jovially. Jim didn't miss the exasperated sigh as Blair scrambled into the truck after his cousin. As he shut the door, he looked at Blair, who was in the act of propping his arm in the window, and said,  
  
"That's the most life I've seen out of her in two weeks."  
  
Dabob Bay, on Hood Canal, near Quilcene, WA.  
  
The sign on a huge, chainlink fenced gate stretching across a remote forest road read, 'Private Property, No Admittance Unless Properly Authorized.' A lone pair of cameras watched the gate from inside the place, linked to a security building far into the property itself.  
  
The only way one could tell the compound was actually the holding center for three major Aquariums is if they sat in the bay with a pair of binoculars. The place was large, shrouded in the thick, dark green cover of evergreen forests, built along the lines of an actual aquarium but with several facilities for ongoing research and such that went on behind the scenes of large Metropolitan Aquariums. It was here that the larger sea creatures were acclimated, rehabilitated, or in a few instances, retired. It sported a large medical complex and culinary area, plus enough security devices to keep even the wildlife in the area at bay.  
  
Already the fur seals, harbor seals, sea lions, and walrus were being settled and watched by their keepers in preparation for the future move to the new facilities clear across Puget Sound, in Cascade. The initial work on their exhibits had been completed, with the sea plants and lesser creatures allowed to settled before the larger animals were moved in. Here too, any creatures being considered for rehabilitation and possible release into the wild were kept and watched and cared for.  
  
In yet another area, the larger fish were gathered. Creatures like the ever popular sharks, giant Pacific octopus, moray eels, skates and rays and the 101 varieties of fish found to flourish in the cold, but nutrient rich waters of the entire seaboard of the Pacific Northwest. Here they were gathered, cared for and prepared for moving into the facilities that had only recently had its backbone of sea stars, anemones, kelp and myriad other smaller critters needed to provide the excruciatingly delicate ecosystem necessary for providing life to the bigger 'stars'. All the small organisms had to be in place, flourishing and in a lot of cases, breeding, before the bigger creatures were even considered for the future move into their own personal 'seas'.  
  
On the bigger end of things, several beluga whales, harbor porpoises, pilot whales and in the largest holding tank of all, two Orca were settled in and awaiting the move. In yet another area, a skeletal staff from both the Seattle Aquarium and the Point Defiance Zoo was actually rehabilitating sea otters, the smallest of the marine mammals. Seattle's remarkable, and only, successful , captive sea otter breeding program in the world carried out much of its work here.  
  
Though mainly overseen by the staffs of Seattle's and Pt. Defiance Aquariums, already new personnel for Cascade's future Aquarium were being trained. Only they were approaching things in a slightly different manner. Overseeing it all, was retired Professor of Marine Sciences, Dr. Achille Legault.  
  
Wiry and thin, not much over 5'10 inches tall and sporting a shock of white wavy hair, he looked much younger then his 62 years, although he still showed the marks of a life of long hard work. He stood before the huge underwater view of the Plexiglas windows of the orca holding tanks and gazed fondly at the nearest mammal, floating serenely still in the eerie blue water. Beyond, the other orca swam lazily. Legault's brown eyes studied the closer creature with a love unfeigned.  
  
"You see, Sascha's settled quite nicely," he said to another individual standing just behind him, gazing into the tank. "And now that Sitka's well enough, he's settling in also."  
  
  
  
"You've done wonders with him, Achille. Two months ago they'd almost given him up for dead."  
  
"He had a will to live. It certainly wasn't me. He just needed encouragement and a chance to heal once he lost the flipper and that portion of his dorsal, not to mention the gashes in his side. Plus my Sascha, she needed a new friend." Legault's gaze flicked back to the strangely still orca closest to them. "Is that not right, cherie?" a soft smile touched his lips.  
  
"Still, a prosthetic device on a Killer Whale? If I wasn't seeing it, I'd never believe it."  
  
"They can build them for elephants who lose their feet to mines in Thailand, mon ami. Why not here on whales hit by boats?? Plus Cascade reaps in the benefits of having a pair of live Orcas in their new Aquarium. Disabled ones at that."  
  
"This one here looks normal enough." The stranger replied. Achille nodded.  
  
"Sascha's as normal as can be. She would never survive however in her native environment. Being blind doesn't fit in the order of things. Neither does being the runt. She gets around magnificently with her sonar capabilities. And she's been here nearly all her life. I have just needed the right place and the right time to bring her into her own spotlight. With the environmental folks the way they are now, they'll more then welcome a pair of disabled, healthy whales in an exhibit. Without the theatrical attractions. It beats having to fight them off trying to catch healthy ones in the wild! Sascha and Sitka, they'd never make it in the wild, never again. They need a new place to live and Cascade's new facility is going to provide that place. Many thanks to donations from organizations such as yours have provided."  
  
As the two men watched, Sitka, the bigger whale, glided slowly past, revealing a series of hideous scars marring his glossy black side. The black prosthetic fin, looking oddly stiff, worked beautifully as he slid by them. The scars still pink and white would take more time to heal properly, and his once proud Dorsal fin had lost nearly half its length.  
  
Sascha stirred and with a lazy flick of her tail cruised silently by the two men, neatly gliding into position by Sitka and touring the big tank with him. The only way one could tell she was actually blind is if they looked behind the main white 'eye' patch on the front of the big whale's head. There sat the actually eyes, normally black. Sascha's where the eerie milky blue white of the blind.  
  
"He's already quite the celebrity, having survived that collision. Life in Cascade will make him even more of one."  
  
"And your concept of presenting the animals in as close to an environment as they would have in the wild is going to be a real masterpiece, Achille. I've toured the Cascade facilities, they are very impressive. Your theory of providing them with as much stimulation as possible is going to be a real winner too."  
  
"We can thank the tiger folks in Brisbane for that idea. Although, I am sure, that others have thought along that line. Boredom is the number one nemesis!"  
  
"I understand one of your former students is going to head up the otter exhibit in Cascade?"  
  
"Ah yes! Miss Samantha McClennen. A savant. She was amongst a group of the youngest students to attend Rainier. Her work with rehabilitating sea otters is one of the highest in the world. A nearly 30% success rate. She is even instrumental in getting a new colony started in the Canadian Islands. The first to thrive in over 80 years."  
  
"Only 30%? Isn't that kind of low?"  
  
"One must take into consideration, mon ami, that rehabilitated otters are more prone to danger once they have made contact with mankind. Even though we try to keep our contact with them to a minimum, they are still affected. Most are preyed upon by seals, whales and in California, sharks. Others can't stop making contact with man, and get shot. Still others simply swim out to sea and never return, despite microchip implants. Samantha's rate is very good, and the Canadian colony is doing very well. However, that kind of rehabilitation work is emotionally draining. She did far better in working with disabled and partially tamed creatures. I'm happy to say her three otters in Monterey are going to be brought here soon. They'll be going into the Cascade exhibit."  
  
"I understand you have some remarkable folks working with the seals also."  
  
"Of course! Only the best for me.let's go there and I'll show you what is happening." Achille held a hand up, indicating the direction the stranger should walk in. He waxed eloquent about the future aquarium and its handlers, his enthusiasm easily evidenced. Presently the stranger broached another subject.  
  
"Your work with the Killer Whales, Achille? Are you still pursuing that?"  
  
"What work would that be, mon ami? I work primarily with them." Legault's brown eyes gained a hint of suspicion as he gazed into the harbor seal holding tanks. Constantly active, the sleek creatures swam past him in a never-ending parade.  
  
"The language studies."  
  
"I am always studying their language, to what do you pursue?" he glanced at the man.  
  
"There was a time, Achille, when you claimed to have cracked their language barrier."  
  
"There was a time." The professor replied carefully. "However, Ootik, my whale, succumbed to his kidney disease and I was never able to complete my studies. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I knew it was a study you loved, Achille. Certainly something you didn't want to give up easily. After the University let you go, I was under the impression that they wanted nothing more to do with your research."  
  
"The minds at Rainer have certain limitations." Legault replied dryly. "They didn't understand that Ootik came from one pod and Sascha came from another. What I had learned from Ootik, didn't work with Sascha. It would be like trying to decipher German and applying it to Mandarin Chinese. Ootik was from Iceland, Sascha from the Pacific Northwest."  
  
"So you do believe that the whales have languages and that the language of whales can be deciphered?"  
  
"Oh certainly, mon ami! The trouble is lack of funding, and a certain lack of credibility on my part." Achille chuckled, hinting at a deep bitterness. "Someday mankind will get past the basics and be able to communicate with them just like you and I are communicating now." Achille looked at the stranger with a sly glance. The man returned the look.  
  
"Achille what would you say to the AAOR providing you with a little funding money to, how should I word this, continue in your pursuit of understanding the language of whales?"  
  
Achille Legault stared at the man.  
  
"I would tell them to take their funding and shove it up their derriere. I don't know who you are, mon ami. I was asked by the board of trustees to show you around. That I have done. As for accepting funds to do research I allowed to let die many years ago. you are going to have to come up with better credentials and a certain understanding that my research belongs to no one, nor is it for use in whatever clandestine purposes they may pursue. If it is possible to interpret the language of Orcas, it would be best for us to learn how to communicate with a creature easily as intelligent as we are and quite possibly more. That kind of breakthrough would be astonishing enough. However, if that information should get into the wrong hands? The effects would be beyond disastrous."  
  
"I assure you Achille, my credentials are more than adequate." The stranger replied smoothly. "But I can see that you are suspicious. Our boat should be heading back to Cascade. What do you say to dinner tonight? And can we discuss this more?"  
  
"I would say yes, to your dinner, mon ami.but to your proposition? You had better work on that one." Achille's hard brown eyes met the stranger's. "I am not easily bought."  
  
  
  
Black Angus Steakhouse, Cascade  
  
Remarkably, the trio had lucked out in getting a window seat overlooking the main harbor in Cascade. Considering the place was packed, it was a stroke of pure luck. The sounds of many conversations, orders being shouted, plates, glasses and various utinsels being clanged and clattered, created a nearly deafening din. Their waiter steered them through the crowds like a seal on a mission and brought them to their seats. Having allowed Sam to walk ahead of them, Jim stepped forward and pulled out the chair that offered the best view. He held it out for her as the waiter distributed menus and made his spiel about ordering when they were ready. Feeling nervous, Sam let Jim seat her.  
  
"Thank you," she said softly, avoiding his gaze.  
  
"My pleasure," he returned politely as Blair sat himself down.  
  
"Can I get you folks anything to drink?" the waiter asked as Jim sat down.  
  
"Water is fine with me." Blair said he glanced at Sam.  
  
"Me too."  
  
"Sir?" the waiter looked at Jim.  
  
"Same, though a Corona wouldn't be such a bad idea if I wasn't working."  
  
"And on a hot day? That's asking for trouble." Blair remarked.  
  
"Three waters, I'll be right back." The waiter replied and shot off.  
  
"I pretty much know what I want." Jim said as the others picked up their menus and began to look through them.  
  
"That was a given." Blair remarked dryly as Sam studied hers.  
  
"I don't want to hear one crack about clogged arteries, Blair," she grumbled, still peeved.  
  
"They'll probably have to ream out your veins of plaque by the time you reach thirty."  
  
"Chief, you feel like a little fiber in your diet?" Jim asked looking at him, his icy blue eyes twinkling. Blair shrugged, perusing his menu.  
  
"Depends on what type of salad I decide on."  
  
"I'm gonna feed you that menu if I hear a crack like that again."  
  
"I won't stop him, either." Sam muttered.  
  
"Thank you." Jim replied, smiling slightly, especially at the look she shot him. Blair shrugged.  
  
"Knock yourselves out. It ain't me putting all that crud in my body."  
  
"Oh man, that Porterhouse looks nice." Sam sighed.  
  
"Order it. I may just go for that myself, though that top sirloin looks good, too."  
  
"But it's so expensive." she replied uncertainly.  
  
"Doesn't matter." Jim replied, smiling assurance at her. "What else would you like?"  
  
"The blooming onion?"  
  
"With the grilled mushrooms," he recommended. Sam glanced warily at him.  
  
"Fat, fat, fat." Blair intoned.  
  
"Sautee'd in butter?" Sam asked.  
  
"Oh yeah," Jim replied, smiling benignly.  
  
"I can hear it dripping now."  
  
"Hey, at least butter is real." Jim replied.  
  
"So is margarine."  
  
"Not that stuff you have in the fridge." Jim remarked.  
  
"That fat free junk? Tasteless as cardboard." Sam replied.  
  
"That junk is made out of yoghurt and natural oils." Blair shot back, "And it tastes great."  
  
"Not when you're grilling fish. Made that trigger fish taste weird last week." Sam grumbled.  
  
"Should've been on my end." Jim said under his breath. Sam blinked, astonished and suddenly embarrassed. Jim had sat back, legs stretched out under the table, arms folded, utterly relaxed. He ran his good hand through his hair, having ruffled it when leaving his Jags cap in the truck.  
  
"Oh man, I'm so sorry about that." she muttered, looking back down at her menu, her cheeks flushing slightly.  
  
"'Bout what? Fish tasted fine, once I got a handle on things in here." He tapped his nose. "Eating what he cooks?" Jim nodded at Blair and shuddered.  
  
"You seem to like my breakfasts well enough. Let's not go there again, okay? My pores were oozing oil for days after that last Wonderburger jaunt we had." Blair shot back.  
  
"Not the pores, Blair, c'mon!" Sam protested, looking like she was about to crawl under the table.  
  
"Smelled like a grease ball for days too." Blair added.  
  
"I'll vouch for that." Jim said, his lips tugging down, his gaze drifting up at the ceiling. "For that matter you also smelled like that cigarette smoke infested airport terminal, your kiwi-coconut shampoo, Skin Bracer after-shave," Jim glanced at Sam quickly, "Which was three days old." He looked back at Blair,  
  
"When did you stop wearing Old Spice? Then there's your 'Mountain Fresh' laundry detergent?" Jim chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't think so, Ten different candles from all that meditating you were doing to get rid of bad vibes, not to mention sage. Unleaded gas from that guzzling Volvo dinosaur of yours and the latest quart of oil you had to put in, and I won't even discuss your socks."  
  
Sam abruptly dipped her head, slapping her crown with the menu. A series of snickers suddenly erupted from her as her shoulders shook. "That's horrible!" she squeaked. She looked up at Blair, her eyes bright with tears. She was actually smiling. Her odd laugh rippled out as her features completely changed. Blair was looking at Jim in shock.  
  
"Shall I go on?" Jim asked nonchalantly, pleased to hear laughter coming from her for a change. Samantha lost it.  
  
"You mean there's more?!"  
  
"Some of it shouldn't be mentioned just before lunch."  
  
"That is like so unfair!" Blair suddenly burst out.  
  
"Want me to start in on taste?"  
  
"Yes!" Sam instantly shot out, grinning at her cousin.  
  
"NO!" Blair nearly shouted. Jim lazily scratched at his chin with the fingers of his left hand, his cast tucked up under his arm.  
  
"If I'm so bad, what about her?" Blair demanded. Jim just shrugged, smiling mysteriously.  
  
"That's easy," he said seeing the sudden look of horror in Sam's eyes.  
  
"Ocean," he replied. "Subtle, relaxing, soft. A touch on the soapy side, but that's just the brand of shower gel and shampoo you use. Warm sand, driftwood, saltwater, sea breeze, Tide soap with the bleach, a touch of woodsmoke.Pine, to be exact, and an undertone of grilled fish in butter and garlic. And cedar, you keep your clothes in a cedar lined closet on the boat don't you?" He looked dreamily thoughtful, his features softening, "You don't need any perfume, and you don't wear any make-up. So there's no grease smell. I can hardly tell she's there, Chief. It's natural, for her." He shrugged "Sort of calming, soothing. I kinda like it." He looked at Sam.  
  
Features devoid of expression, her jaw hung slack as she stared at him in shock. Blair almost choked. The waiter showed up, holding three glasses of water.  
  
"Can I take your order?" he asked uncertainly at the sudden silence that had descended on the table. He carefully set the glasses in place. Sam broke the mood by snapping out of her trance.  
  
"Uh."she stammered. Jim quickly covered for her awkwardness.  
  
"The lady would like the 20 oz Porterhouse, medium rare, with the mixed veggies, rice, and a green salad." Jim glanced at a speechless Samantha. "What salad dressing?"  
  
"R-Ranch," she barely squeaked. Jim smiled up at the furiously scribbling waiter.  
  
"I'll have the same. Except I want that Porterhouse rare. And for appetizers we want the blooming onion and the grilled mushrooms."  
  
"Ranch for the salad dressing?" the waiter asked.  
  
"Italian, for me. Gotta keep something light. Oh yeah, and extra cheese biscuits too, with real butter."  
  
The waiter nodded then turned to Blair.  
  
"And you sir?"  
  
"Uh.the Grilled Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad, with the croutons and the Ranch dressing on the side."  
  
"Very good, you're orders will be a few minutes, and I'll bring the biscuits right away," the waiter said to the three of them as he gathered up the menus and vanished. Blair leaned over and hissed at Jim, dark blue eyes challenging. Sam was once again staring at Jim in surprise. Blair chuckled in mock loathing.  
  
"That has to be the most perfectly disgusting display of your 'observations' that I have ever seen!"  
  
"How'd." Sam stuttered. Blair looked at her and scowled.  
  
"C'mon Sam, he's a detective.simple deduction."  
  
"What?" Jim replied, looking surprised. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Knowing Sam prefers rice to potatoes, and the veggies, not to mention the steak! And that bit about the closet? Basic detection. She's been around the Loft long enough for you to pick that up." Blair seethed. "And all that crap about my after-shave and laundry soap? That's blatant use of your other perceptions."  
  
"Let's not forget the candles, Chief. Let's see. there was that Vanilla that smelled more like wax, Freesia, Gardenia, more chemical than anything else. That so-called Rose. Pumpkin Spice? Give me a break.Balsam Fir? Smelled more like crankcase oil from an old diesel. That Cinnamon one that was way too strong. Frankincense, more like an overripe Frankenstein. The Banana that smelled like turpentine. And what was that Blueberry thing supposed to smell like? I still haven't figured that one out."  
  
Sam slipped a hand over her mouth, hiding the smile that threatened to cross her lips, and unsuccessfully holding in a snicker. Her eyes twinkled. Jim glanced at her.  
  
"I'd go on but I'd bore you to tears with the list."  
  
"You remember all that?!" she asked. Jim just smiled languidly and tapped his temple.  
  
"Rolodex in the head."  
  
Sam looked at Blair.  
  
"And you complain about me dishing dirt out on you?" She began to laugh again. Blair shot a glare at her.  
  
"Jim's just being nice, too. He'll tell you anything to get red meat into his diet." He looked at Jim. "And I'm not growing a little thick around the middle from the lack of exercise." Jim's eyes instantly focused on Blair, as the corners of his lips curled.  
  
"Sandburg." he said tolerantly and held up his broken wrist. "I can still out do you one handed. You name it, push ups, pull ups, chin ups."  
  
"Ooo!" Blair laughed at Jim his eyes gaining a mischievous sparkle. "Getting a little sensitive there? I smell a challenge! Don't forget Jim, I had to pass all that stuff recently." Sam laughed at them both.  
  
"The gauntlet has been thrown!"  
  
"But whose got several more years of conditioning on you?" Jim asked still looking Blair straight in the eye.  
  
"Don't age yourself buddy! I wouldn't want to whip you one seeing you are handicapped."  
  
"Blair!" Sam laughed at him. Jim suddenly smiled languidly, with a good dose of predatory maliciousness added behind it.  
  
"Keep diggin' your grave, Chief. I'll bury you in it after lunch," he purred, settling his arm back in place and relaxing. "One handed."  
  
"Care to make a wager on that?" Blair challenged, an eyebrow lifting. Sam's staccato laughter lilted over the table.  
  
"Oh my, the Testosterone level just got deep around here!"  
  
"I don't want to take your money, Chief." Jim replied his eyes drifting around the restaurant. Sam, smiling brilliantly looked from one to the other. She glanced at Blair, not seeing Jim's eyes focus on someone clear on the other side of the restaurant.  
  
"Ha! I wipe you out on a regular basis, easy pickings." Blair chortled back watching as Jim's eyes began to narrow. Sam was rising from the table.  
  
"If you don't mind, I need to use the loo.this Macho Posturing is beginning to get a little overwhelming!" She grinned, her focus on Blair. She didn't see Jim's good natured smile suddenly disappear.  
  
Blair was watching Jim, seeing him tip his head slightly.  
  
"Jim?" He asked, just as Sam tripped. She stumbled slightly, reaching out with her left hand to catch his left shoulder, while her left knee lifted slightly to bump his leg.  
  
"Oh shit!" she muttered as her right hand snaked down.  
  
Blair, like Jim, had dressed for hot weather as most detectives did. A T- shirt with a short sleeve shirt thrown on to conceal his weapon. Normally the cell phones were secreted away in the pocket of a jacket, however both men had them clipped to their belts because of the warm weather. Distracted by Jim's attention on something, Blair even turned away looking over his right shoulder as Sam stumbled into him. Her hand snagged at the phone, jerking it off his belt. Blair looked back at her, jarred by her sudden contact, his concentration abruptly split.  
  
"Sam!" he exclaimed looking at her as she righted herself.  
  
"Sorry cuz!" She grinned, her hand, cell phone firmly clutched in it, slipped up behind her back. She turned from him, deliberately facing him, as she moved away from his reach.  
  
"I just really, really need to use your cell phone!" She smiled at him as she backed away. Blair, glancing at Jim still concentrating on whatever, suddenly slapped his hip and glared at her, half rising from his seat.  
  
"Sam, you little.!" Her bark of laughter drifted back at him as she eeled away from them through the patrons. She waved the phone at him. Blair sank back down in disgust, turning his attention back to Jim.  
  
"I'm gonna kill her one of these days." He growled and looked at Jim. "What is it?" he asked.  
  
"Guy being seated on the other end of the restaurant. Grey suit on?" Jim said softly, his eyes flicking briefly at Sandburg. Use caution, they warned. Blair's eyebrows lifted slightly as he looked at Jim then he casually turned, scanned the room, and looked back at him.  
  
"Dark hair? Just set a briefcase on the table. 'Bout 6 foot tall? Early forties? Previously broken nose?"  
  
"Way to go, Junior." Jim smiled coldly, nodding his approval.  
  
"What about him?" Blair asked.  
  
"Came in the room and surveyed it for possible enemies." Jim murmured, his brain ticking at top speed. "Body language gave it away."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Gun oil. He's carrying. I can smell it."  
  
"Can't do anything though."  
  
"No, we can't." Jim agreed.  
  
"But?" Blair prompted.  
  
"Something's not right."  
  
"And we can't exactly go about seeing what makes him tick."  
  
"Not right now, anyway." Jim murmured back, spotting their waiter coming. "Where's Sam?" Jim asked. He'd been concentrating hard enough that he hadn't notice her bid for Blair's cell phone.  
  
"Little shit got my phone." Blair growled. Jim smirked at him, his gaze drifting carefully towards the stranger.  
  
"Call it a hunch, Chief, but our friend over there isn't what he seems."  
  
"In a cop kinda way or a covert ops one?" Blair asked, watching Jim. Jim smiled oddly, glancing one more time at the stranger, fixing him into his memory permanently.  
  
"Ops. I'm gonna run him when we get back to the station. I wonder if we'd get a reaction if I can get his waiter to deliver me his bill?"  
  
"Jim.we got Sammy with us. You sure you want to do something like that?" Blair asked. "She's not exactly used to the idea of me being a cop." Jim's eyes glanced at him and he pursed his lips in thought.  
  
"Not a bad point."  
  
"But then with your hunches.things get interesting." Blair smiled at his partner and looked around the rest of the restaurant. "Not much that is normal trips the Sentinel radar."  
  
In the lounge area, open to the restaurant and leading to the restrooms, Sam paused, smiling hugely and poked a series of numbers into Blair's cell phone. She glanced over at the two men, who were deep in discussion about something, then her attention focused on the cell.  
  
"Allo?" A familiar male voice sounded in her ear.  
  
"Achille? It's Sammy." She said happily, backing towards the wall to avoid a pair of elderly women emerging from the ladies room.  
  
"Samantha, ma cher! There you are at last. How are you? I had a talk with your cousin earlier."  
  
"I'm fine Achille! I am so sorry I didn't call you earlier." she apologized.  
  
"Nonsense dear girl! Blair told me you ran into some trouble, I trust everything is all right?"  
  
"Not one hundred percent, but it's improving."  
  
"He said something about your boat?"  
  
"Oh Achille." Sam groaned. "It's such a long story."  
  
"You were able to get your slip space all right weren't you?" the professor asked.  
  
"I just lost it this morning, Achille. The Sundog's is in dry-dock in Prince Rupert." Sam explained. For the next five minutes she gave her boss the quick and condensed version of her activities of two weeks ago.  
  
"Ma Cher! Why didn't you tell me this earlier!" he scolded.  
  
"Achille, I haven't exactly been capable of doing a whole lot until real recently. Besides, what could you have done? Look, Blair said something about work? Are they ready for otters over there yet?"  
  
"Ahh Blair. My fellow outcast. Yes, cherie. I wanted to let you know that the facilities here for transitioning your trio in Monterey are ready. Plus I understand SORAC has a disabled orphan they think might be your specialty. I've started making arrangements for their shipping(SHIPMENT, OR BEING SHIPPED) to the facilities here, but we need your paperwork. And I have a few things for you, a cell phone, pager.maybe even a vehicle."  
  
"You mean I can start working?" She asked, something Achille said, niggling at her thoughts.  
  
"Whenever you want, cherie! I even can arrange for you to go to Monterey to pick them up. Are you feeling up to meeting me at the new Aquarium soon?"  
  
"Anytime Achille, I'm more then ready to get going. What was that you said about Blair?"  
  
"My fellow outcast?" Achille asked.  
  
"Yeah, what outcast?" Achille chuckled in her ear.  
  
"Rainier isn't too happy with him confessing to fraud on National television about his dissertation on Sentinels, ma cher! His being fired from his position didn't exactly help matters either."  
  
Sam's world suddenly spun. For several seconds things went black as she slapped a hand on a nearby payphone. Unable to breathe, she didn't realize she was gasping for breath until she heard Achille's voice on the other end of the cell phone.  
  
"Sammy?! Cherie? Samantha!?"  
  
"Wh.What did you just say?" She gasped looking over at Jim and Blair, her very nerve endings numb with shock.  
  
"Blair confessing to fraud? Don't tell me ma cher, you didn't know about it!" The older man said, genuinely appalled.  
  
"Fraud!?" she gasped staring wildly away.  
  
"Fraud, cherie. About the detective being a Sentinel? Blair said it was all false. A joke on his friends. He announced it on network television." Achille said slowly, somberly, realizing that his protégé knew nothing.  
  
"Achille!" Sam blurted, shivering suddenly, "He wasn't lying! Jim is a Sentinel...  
  
  
  
At the table Jim felt the prickle of an eerily familiar icy finger beginning to run down his spine. Still discussing the stranger with Blair, he suddenly cut off, frowning in dismay.  
  
"Jim?" Blair asked seeing the look cross his face.  
  
"Where's Sam?" Jim asked tipping his head, listening.  
  
"Headed for the restroom." Blair, said frowning in puzzlement as Jim concentrated. Blair watched as Jim's head swiveled in her direction, his jaw suddenly dropping open slightly. He was listening intently. Abruptly his gaze swung right, fixing Blair with his laser spotlight. Blair literally watched a wall of sheer anger drop over his partner. Jim was up out of his chair in one swift move.  
  
"I thought you said your cousin could keep a secret!" he snarled. Spinning, he began heading towards the lounge at a fast pace.  
  
"What?!" Blair exclaimed, staring, transfixed a moment. He sprang out of his chair. "Damn!" Blair growled, bolting after Jim. "Damn it all to hell!"  
  
  
  
Still reeling Sam had turned towards the wall.  
  
"Sammy! Ma cher! " Achille was pleading. "I apologize Sam, I didn't know you didn't know about this."  
  
"No." she snapped. "No this isn't true!" her voice was beginning to rise. She suddenly felt herself being spun around as a large hand gripped her shoulder. She stared up in shock as Jim towered over her. He tore the cell phone from her hand, hitting the disconnect. Blair was one step behind Jim.  
  
"What have you done?" Blair snapped at her. Sam backed away from Jim and turned her shocked gaze on Blair.  
  
"What have I done?!" she snapped. "What the hell have you done!?" She abruptly stepped forward.  
  
"Tell me it's a lie!" she demanded. "Tell me it's not real!" her voice began to rise again.  
  
"Keep your voice down!" Jim snapped.  
  
"Sammy." Blair started, as she stared hard into his eyes. A gamut of emotions were playing across Blair's features.  
  
"You told me you could keep this to yourself!" Jim snarled at Sam. She ignored him.  
  
"Tell me it's not true!" Sam demanded.  
  
"Sam." Blair pleaded. "What did Legault tell you?"  
  
"What the hell did you just tell Legault? Or was that really him you were talking to?" Jim snapped back.  
  
"Tell me it's not real!" Sam nearly shouted, her eyes searching Blair's. He said nothing, but the look in his eyes sent a scowl across Sam's face. Both her hands suddenly connected with his chest, rocking him back on his heels away from her.  
  
"Get the hell away from me!" she hissed shoving past him.  
  
"Sam!" he snapped grabbing for her arm. He was a fraction too late. She jerked her arm away.  
  
"Don't you touch me!" she yelled, backing away. "Just stay the hell away!" A hush settled in around the nearest patrons as heads began to turn, looking for the commotion.  
  
"Samantha!" Jim's voice cut through the air. Too late, Sam had spun on her heel, heading rapidly for the door.  
  
"Shit!" Blair exploded, his own anger suddenly kicking in. He took off after his cousin.  
  
"Sandburg!" Jim shouted.  
  
"I'll take care of this, Jim!" Blair's curt voice met his ears.  
  
"You should've taken care of this earlier, Sandburg!" Jim snapped, following. Something tripped the fine wire of his natural defenses as he headed for the door, momentarily losing Blair. Jim paused, eyes scanning the room. They fell on the stranger.  
  
The man was looking directly at Jim, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Jim frowned. The man's eyes carried the distinct stamp of a predator. Somehow Jim knew he'd be seeing him again.  
  
  
  
Outside the restaurant, Jim came to a stop. The day was bright, hot, and there were literally hundreds of people out enjoying the summer day. The crowds were thick along the waterfront. Jim searched quickly, trying to locate his partner or his cousin. Failing that, he began to listen. Unerringly he turned left, his hearing barely catching the sounds of Blair's voice. Hitching one sense to another and using them had become almost instinctive now and Jim had no problem locating them a good block away. Sam was wrenching her arm from Blair's grasp and both were heatedly arguing.  
  
"You have got to listen to me!" Blair was snarling.  
  
"To what?! A fraud?!" Sammy was yelling back. "I don't barkin' believe what I just heard! It's making a sick sense, Blair!"  
  
"Sam, you have got to slow down and let me explain!"  
  
"Explain what? That you threw away 12 years worth of college by telling everyone in the damn country that you're liar? When you're not? Give me a stinkin' break! What the hell got into your head Blair?! On national television!? I suspected something big went down when you wouldn't tell me the whole reason why you decided to shelve your doctorate! But this?" Her voice cracked, an arm waving. Blair made another grab for her arms but she began backing away from him, shaking her head.  
  
"For cryin' out loud Blair!?" Sammy snapped harshly. "What the hell have you done to yourself? Look at you," her hand waved in disgust. "You were on a one way ride to getting a professorship, shit you're just this side of a genius! How could you be so damn stupid?!"  
  
Blair's hands clenched in front of his face in mock throttling.  
  
"Shut your damn mouth, Sam!" he yelled at her. "You don't know anything about this situation and I suggest you watch what the hell you say about it! What did Legault say to you?"  
  
Sammy was shaking her head, the reproach in her eyes tearing straight though her cousin.  
  
"I can't deal with this right now!" she shouted at him "How could you tell people that you committed fraud when you didn't? For cryin' out loud, you committed it by denying something that was true!"  
  
"I also did it for a damn good reason Sam! One you know about if you'd just shut your trap a minute and think! There are times Sammy, when I just want to smack you one to get you to listen!" He yelled back, thumping his fist into his other palm, trying to get into her face. Sam backed away further as he followed, trying to get her by her arms again. She burst out with a sudden, restrained energy, slapping her hands into his chest shoving him away from her.  
  
"Don't you touch me!" she shouted as he stumbled back. She spun away walking rapidly down the sidewalk, ignoring the looks from startled passersby.  
  
"Sam!" Blair barked. He took off after her. Her walking gained speed as she wove in and out of the crowd  
  
"Dammit Sam, stop!" Blair yelled at her. She began to jog. Blair spat out a curse. As he began to break out into a run himself, Jim's hand landed on his shoulder.  
  
"Sandburg!" Jim growled.  
  
"Back off Jim!" Blair snapped back, spinning around, his arm coming up and around, knocking Jim's arm away. He stood his ground. "The last thing I need right now is you getting all over my case!"  
  
"It's not your case I want to get all over!" Jim snarled, not looking at Blair but watching Sam getting further and further away from them. "'Bout the only thing you and I need to discuss here is your neglecting to tell her what really happened. As for her, I got a little matter I want resolved, now!"  
  
"Uh uh!" Blair snapped. "This is my responsibility, I'll handle it."  
  
"Like you are now?"  
  
"Jim, I don't need your sarcasm! Look, you go talk to Legault if it'll make you feel better, I'm going after her." he began to brush past Jim. "Tell Simon something came up."  
  
"Sandburg." Jim started. Blair waved an arm at him, dismissing him.  
  
"I'll catch you later, Jim." His words floated back at him as Blair set off through the crowds. It was Jim's turn to swear. He spun on his heel in disgust and made his way back to the restaurant.  
  
Cascade Aquarium Site (under construction)  
  
The security guard at the Aquarium looked up from his book as an older model Ford pick-up slowly cruised up to the construction site gate. Past the gate the site appeared finished, already the landscaping was in place leading to the main building, but further on, Jim could see the maritime crane on its barge, hauling and lifting from it's position out in the Sound. Various employee vehicles were scattered in the parking lot and a set of containers for debris was set beyond them. If he cared to, Jim could've listened in on the sounds of the workers doing whatever it was to build a world class Aquarium. Instead, he waited as the guard emerged from his booth and approached the drivers side window.  
  
"Can I help you?" he asked as Jim rolled down his window. Fumbling with his plaster bound hand, Jim  
  
extracted his ID and showed it to the man.  
  
"I'm Detective Ellison, I need to speak with Dr. Achille Legault, he wouldn't be here would he?" The guard took the ID and read it, glancing up at Jim.  
  
"As a matter of fact he is. He just got back from Quilcene not half an hour ago." The guard handed Jim's badge back to him. "May I ask what it's in regard to?"  
  
"Just tell him it's about Samantha McClennen."  
  
"All right, wait here," the guard replied and turned away. Jim nodded, trying not to let his impatience get away from him. The guard picked up a phone in his booth, talked for a moment, then glanced at Jim, nodded and hung up. Seconds later he waved at Jim and the gate began to roll away from its place. Jim nodded back as he let the truck roll forward. The guard stuck his head out of his booth,  
  
"Head right, that's where the main entrance is. John Jacobsen will meet you there."  
  
"Gotcha." Jim said pulling through the gate.  
  
For the next few minutes he circled the landscaped grounds, following the road to the main entrance. Presently the building appeared, showing massive glass doors leading to the foyer of the new aquarium. In front was an enormous bronze statue of a killer whale in the classic Haida form, set above a reflecting pool in black granite. Only at the moment, there was no water in it and the shrubs surrounding it were still waiting to be planted. Several nicer vehicles were parked close by in reserved spaces. Ignoring them, Jim pulled into one and was soon headed towards the building.  
  
At the door a tall brunette male, close to his age and sporting a goatee, had unlocked the door and was waiting just outside.  
  
"Detective Ellison?" he asked, sharp, inquisitive brown eyes studied the approaching man.  
  
"Yes I'm Detective Ellison. You must be John Jacobsen?" Jim responded.  
  
"Mind if I see your ID again?" The man asked. Jim glanced at him, pursed his lips slightly and fumbled the leather wallet out.  
  
"We can't be careful enough around here, Detective." The man said, noticing Jim's impatience. "This is a quarter of a billion dollar facility, stocked with a lot of living creatures some people would gladly chain themselves to fences to free."  
  
"Can the anti environmentalist speeches, is Achille Legault here?" The man, looking down at the wallet, glanced back up at Jim.  
  
"Dr. Legault is here, yes. I didn't mean to offend you Detective. We just get all kinds of cranks here."  
  
"I appreciate your dedication to security," Jim growled, his blue eyes pinning the man.  
  
"Well, I'm Dr. Jacobsen. Call me Jake, everyone does." He held his hand out to shake Jim's. Jim responded by smiling sourly and holding up his cast. He waggled his fingers once.  
  
"Well, Jake? I really do need to talk with Dr. Legault."  
  
"Sure." Jake replied, looking a bit embarrassed and handing Jim's ID back to him. "He's in his office, come this way." Jake pulled open the door and let Jim walk past him. He came to an instant halt as he entered the building.  
  
Everything began to spin on him as he hastily scrambled to control all his senses. Before, him, past the admissions counter, a bank of wall sized aquariums bubbled and gurgled. The smell of heavy salt water, brine, fish, various chemicals, the formaldehyde taint of new carpets and other new furnishings plus the crashings of a tide pool simulation tank caused the detective to wince as he quickly reined things under control. Even the temperature was noticeably cooler.  
  
"Detective?" Jake asked, pausing as Jim came to a stop, his eyes shutting as a hand halfway reached up to one ear.  
  
"I'm fine." Jim replied tersely, opening his eyes and looking around. "Is this place ready to open or something?" Jake chuckled.  
  
"Not for four more months, Detective. The exhibits all need time to get settled and growing before we allow the first visitors in. That'll give us a limited use opening date around Christmas, which will give the exhibits and the larger animals some time to get used to visitors, before next year's Spring rush." Jim nodded, surveying the lobby and foyer.  
  
"C'mon, I'll take you to Legault's office. The old man's floating around here somewhere."  
  
"Is that supposed to be some sort of inside joke?" Jacobsen looked at Jim. The tall detective was not smiling and the cold front coming from his glacial blue eyes gave him a chill.  
  
"Uh, no Detective, not at all," Jake replied. He led the way to the right, to a door marked Private Personnel, and held it open for Jim. A hallway with a wall of windows to the right and a series of watercolor portraits showing the different phases of the Aquariums construction flanked them to the left. Outside the windows a long stretch of private, immaculately landscaped courtyard followed the slightly curving wall of the building. Jake led the way.  
  
"The guard mentioned this has to do with Sam McClennen? She's not in any trouble is she?" Jake asked.  
  
"You know her?" Jim asked back, short and to the point. Jake couldn't help but feel a sense of displeasure coming from the man beside him.  
  
"Sam? Yeah I know her. She was one of my students at Rainer, when I was studying for my Doctorate. Borderline savant, as Achille is fond of saying. Amazing to see the recall in the mind of one as young as she is."  
  
"Recall?" Jim asked back.  
  
"Walking encyclopedia. They're pretty rare. Her cousin is one too from what I understand."  
  
"Did you know Blair Sandburg?" Jim's voice was clipped.  
  
"Sandburg? Yeah, knew him too, but only through Sam." Jake smiled slightly, the ghost of some memory lighting his face. "Now that one is savant. Was studying Anthropology if I remember correctly. Got himself in some sort of trouble last year. Don't remember what for but I heard he got ousted from the University. Damned shame. The guy was just this side of brilliant."  
  
"What exactly was Samantha studying for?"  
  
"She was aiming for her Doctorate in Marine Biology and Marine Zoology. Double Major. But she exhibited such a talent for Sea Mammal Rehabilitation that Monterey snatched her up for the SORAC program, right after she got her Masters. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. We weren't surprised she grabbed it. Then the University of Alaska gave her a very tempting offer. She took that. Achille considers it a real coup to claim her for the Aquarium."  
  
"SORAC?" Jim asked.  
  
"Yeah, Sea Otter Research and Conservation. SORAC's one of the worlds finest for rehabilitating sea otters to the wild. However." Jake smiled at Jim conspiratorially. "SORAC still doesn't have a successful breeding program like Seattle does." There was note of pride and personal connection in his voice.  
  
"Samantha McClennen." Jim stated flatly steering him back.  
  
"Sam?" Jake shrugged. "Fast thinker, sometimes way too fast. Her brain skips steps that need to come in between. Impetuous, would be a good word to describe her. Got her into trouble at times." He suddenly smiled, leading Jim past a set of office doors.  
  
"She's one of Rainier's best kept secrets, along with Sandburg. Rainier's a pioneering University in the acceptance of savants to the University programs. Anything to keep them busy and occupied. Nothing is more frightening than a savant that is bored! You should hear some of the tales of Sandburg, McClennen, and a few of the others, especially the ones in Engineering. I believe the University was actually relieved when Sam was able to move out of the Dorms." Jake paused in his ramblings, gazing at Jim.  
  
"She's good people, though. Had a hell of a bad adolescence. Lost her folks and a twin in a bus accident down in South America. She's actually rather withdrawn. The impetuousness is more a front. She's not in any trouble is she?" Jake paused in his walking, causing Jim to slow down.  
  
"Not yet." Jim replied. Jake nodded and grasped a door handle. 'DIRECTOR' stood out in bold gold lettering on the door. Inside led to a large foyer, where a secretary busied herself at a computer. Jim took in the typical office surroundings and spied three doors. Each marked Director, Rehabilitations, and Operations, individually and respectively. Another wall-sized aquarium took up the left side of the room, filled with exotic saltwater fish. Two doors led straight beyond the secretary and the third led right. Jake led him that way.  
  
"Is Achille in his office, Sheila?" Jake asked.  
  
"No, Jake, he stepped out to talk to Mike for a few minutes." The girl replied, never breaking her concentration on the screen, or the gunfire sound her fingers were making on the keyboard. Jake nodded and held open the door marked Director.  
  
"Place is a labyrinth sometimes." Jake remarked, leading Jim into a break room broken up by three more doors and a large window open to a view of the Sound and the City.  
  
"I'll let you wait in Achille's office," Jake said passing by a door with a stranger's name on it, a door with his name on it and the furthest door proclaiming Achille Legault, Director. He popped open the door to the office letting Jim inside. The window view of Cascade and Puget Sound continued on in a huge office sporting a desk, three chairs, a couch with a coffee table, a series of file cabinets, and an alarming disarray of papers, files, and mail. To his left a coffee pot wafted its tempting aroma throughout the room.  
  
"Help your self to the coffee, I'll go get Achille," Jake said, leaving Jim behind. Jim glanced back at the door and surveyed the room, casually meandering over to the desk and gazing out at the view of Puget Sound.  
  
Just a bare few feet from the window, the grounds abruptly dropped, revealing to Jim's left a long pier leading out into the Bay. He could just see of one end of the construction barge beyond that. Moored to the pier was a white ship, fairly large, sporting black and red trim and clearly marked USS Wecoma. Jim scanned it a moment, taking in the huge holding tank and hoist. He then let his eyes wander over the granite rocks decorating the grounds with their cloaks of Rhododendrons, Sword Ferns, and gracefully swaying Alaskan Weeping Cedars. Here and there various colorful annuals and perennials brightened the grounds. Somebody had gathered a lot of money to dress the place out.  
  
Jim turned, studying the office again, his eyes glancing over the paper clutter on the desk. Even the computer wasn't spared various files and such. Yellow post it notes festooned the outside of the monitor and several more decorated the top of the keyboard. Moving closer Jim began inspecting the clutter, leaning over and careful not to touch the mess. He cautiously nudged his hearing up, listening for approaching people.  
  
His eyes caught the edge of a business card stapled to a sheet of paper almost buried under several envelopes. A crease appeared between his eyes as he frowned and tipped his head slightly. Hearing nobody coming, Jim reached out his ring finger and edged the letter out from under the envelopes. What he read froze him in his place in shock. He blinked once reading the business card. Sporting a maritime logo, the name Tim Rasmussen stood out in bold black letters followed by phone numbers and addresses. Across the top of the letter, in clearly marked lettering, it read American Association of Oceanographic Research. It was a standard introductory letter, explaining the process of accepting funds provided for the new Cascade Aquarium.  
  
The name meant nothing to him, but he knew the organization only too well. His jaw clenched as he stared at the card. His hearing picked up the sound of approaching people. A quick nudge sent the sheet back under the envelopes and Jim stepped sideways, towards the window, turning he clasped his cast in his left hand, behind his back.  
  
He had no sooner dropped the tension out of his jaw and shoulders when the door opened and two men entered, one being Jake and the other a wiry man with a shock of white hair, not more than an inch taller than Blair. He had dark tanned skin, and evidenced an air of worldliness. Jim could make out multiple large and small scars up and down the man's corded arms and legs. Legault also wore a loud red Hawaiian shirt, sandals and shorts. A pair of sunglasses dangled on his chest from a cord around his neck. Dark eyes took in Jim and iceberg blue ones took in the Director of Cascade Aquarium.  
  
"Detective Ellison." Achille Legault said, waving at Jake to leave.  
  
"Professor." Jim replied, turning from his view and facing the man, mildly taken aback at his casual attire. Jacobsen vanished, not bothering to shut the door behind him.  
  
"Oh please, Detective, drop the Professor. I did years ago." A slight French accent greeted Jim's ears. "Jake tells me this visit is in regards to Samantha?" The question came with a tinge of concern and wariness.  
  
"She hasn't called you recently has she?" Jim asked, watching Achille's eyes. The older man was definitely suspicious of something. Jim felt his alarms going on full alert. "Like within the last 45 minute to an hour ago?"  
  
"As a matter of fact yes Detective, little more than an hour ago. Though I was expecting her to call. She is after all, one of my employees. What is this in regards to, Detective Ellison?" Jim studied the man studying him, feeling an inner confidence from Legault that Jim had only ever really encountered amongst veterans. Jim's eyes narrowed slightly.  
  
"Did you serve?" Jim abruptly asked, hoping to catch Legault off guard. The older man suddenly smiled showing neat even teeth in a cold, feral grin.  
  
"Corporal in the Canadian Navy, Detective. Might I ask your branch of service?"  
  
"Captain, Army Rangers."  
  
"And now, Detective?" Achille asked as he nodded at a private inner confirmation. Jim nodded,  
  
"Major Crimes."  
  
Legault's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "What would Samantha be involved with Major Crimes for?" his head tipped as he strolled further into his room. He frowned. "Is this in regards to the incident she was involved in a few weeks ago? In Canada?"  
  
"Possible repercussions." Jim said smoothly.  
  
"Her boat was nearly destroyed?" Achille asked, glancing back up at Jim as he moved around his desk.  
  
"Rammed by an artifacts smuggler in a 25 foot cruiser who blew up a crew of researchers." Jim's statement finally had a desired effect. Legault looked at Jim sharply in surprise.  
  
"Blew up." he gasped.  
  
"Samantha McClennen was the only witness. She had just left the Research Vessel Denali when it exploded. A severed cable caught her across the shoulders. Nearly took her head off. The smuggler went after her when he discovered she was alive. She dropped from exhaustion a week later. And after getting a good sized hole rammed in her boat."  
  
"Exhaustion? She didn't tell me that." Achille exclaimed, then he paused. "She's staying with her cousin I understand?" Legault asked, his voice introspective as he sank into his chair, trying to absorb what Jim had revealed about his protégé. It was clear to Jim that Achille Legault was deeply concerned about Sam. Jim watched him, turned to face the man and still clutched his cast behind his back.  
  
"Sandburg? Yes she is."  
  
"You know him, Detective? Mr. Sandburg? He's been working in the police department several years now, I understand."  
  
"I know him."  
  
"Brilliant head on that young man, shame what happened to him."  
  
"What might that be?" Jim asked.  
  
"His being fired from Rainier University over that fraud incident." Achille replied looking distractedly at the clutter on his desk, still rattled by Jim's news. "He was working with a Detective that he claims he was doing a research paper on." Achille suddenly stopped and looked up at Jim. A slow smile began to drift across his lips as he sat back and draped one arm over the armrest. He waggled a finger at Jim.  
  
"Oh ho! Mon ami! You are very good."  
  
"Oh really? At what?" Jim asked. Achille laughed.  
  
"This has nothing to do with Samantha." Legault said studying his opponent with respect.  
  
"This has everything to do with Samantha." Jim replied.  
  
"You're Sandburg's partner aren't you?"  
  
"Samantha called you about an hour ago. What did she say to you?" Jim ignored him and went for the direct approach.  
  
"About the Sentinel research? That Sandburg hadn't lied. Only natural she'd jump to his defense. Those two were very close. I got the distinct impression Detective, that she did not know what had happened with him." Achille was looking curiously at Jim. "Might I ask what happened?"  
  
"You can ask." Jim stated.  
  
"Is it true?"  
  
"What if I told you it wasn't?"  
  
"Then I would have a very hard time understanding how Mr. Sandburg gained a position amongst Cascades finest."  
  
"Four years of hard work, completing the academy and entrance exams and a severe reprimand from the upper echelon." Jim sniffed, never taking his eyes off Legault. The other was watching Jim speculatively. "Not uncommon for rookies to gain a shield only a few years out of basics." It was a truth diverted for other purposes.  
  
"But Blair Sandburg was studying for a Doctorate in Anthropology." Achille said. Jim smiled cold and calculating.  
  
"Came to the station to study Closed Societies, discovered he had a natural aptitude and a knack for helping solve complicated cases. Then he got bit by the bug."  
  
"And became a policeman?" Achille asked still watching Jim. "Detective, and a good one."  
  
"Despite an apparent practical joke that backfired on national television?"  
  
"People make stupid mistakes."  
  
"And his position at Rainier?"  
  
"He was about to get fired from it anyway. Been missing too many classes and relying on too many subs, despite keeping up on his course plans. The Dean just needed one more excuse to get rid of him." And after Ventriss, Jim really wasn't that far off the mark.  
  
"You're not here to discuss Samantha are you Detective?" Legault asked. Jim frowned.  
  
"I am here about Samantha." Jim reiterated. "Whatever you discussed with her regarding Blair shocked her badly enough that she left a 15.00 lunch plate behind in a crowded restaurant in a manner I would say was very irrational."  
  
"Aah." Achille's shoulders relaxed a little as he glanced at the clutter on his desk again. "I was afraid I had said something to upset her. What I don't understand is why Mr. Sandburg hadn't told her." He glanced back up at Jim. The set of Jim's lips gave away his obvious displeasure.  
  
"Sandburg's oversight. He was trying to protect her. The incident in Canada is still affecting her up here." Jim replied sourly pointing a finger at his skull.  
  
"You sound more involved than it appears, Detective?" Achille asked looking back at him. Jim snorted slightly, smirking.  
  
"I was with them at the restaurant when this all went down."  
  
"I see." Achille replied.  
  
"Knowing what I know of Samantha. It's important that I speak to her." Jim said. Somewhere under the piles of paper on the desk a phone intercom suddenly beeped. Jim scowled as Achille turned his attention to the desk.  
  
"Excuse me a moment." The man said as he grabbed a pile and unceremoniously dumped them on a new location. He grabbed the phone, stabbed a button and looked directly at Jim.  
  
"Sheila, cherie I'm a little busy.." He started to scold good-naturedly. Jim, watching the man, decided discretion was in order and refrained from listening in. Achille listened a second. "Hold the line a moment Sheila and locate Jake for me." He swiveled back to the phone, stabbed the hold button and abruptly rose from the chair.  
  
"I'm sorry Detective. An Aquarium's work is never done. I'll be right back." Achille promptly left the room. Jim frowned, his head beginning to tip sideways.  
  
  
  
Bustling through the break room and into the foyer, Achille raised a warning finger to his lips at Sheila then he leaned over the counter and checked the phone. At about that moment Jake appeared from the Rehab's door way.  
  
"Achille." he started but saw Legault shaking his head no and nodding towards his office. Legault had grabbed a pencil and paper and was writing fast.  
  
"One of our important packages has arrived." Achille babbled getting a strange look from both his subordinates. He tore the paper off and handed it to Jake. "This is the information you need to pick it up. I'd like you to run over and get it for me Jake, it's very important and I don't trust Fed Ex." He smiled at Jake. Jake frowned, looking at the paper.  
  
'McClennen's on line 2. Do not let the Detective know. Go and get her.'  
  
"Uh," Jake started to speak but Legault was shaking his head, a scowl on his face as he slipped a warning finger to his lips.  
  
"Sure Achille, right away." Jake said. Achille nodded and picked up a Caller ID unit attached to the phone. He scribbled the number down then reached over and took the phone from Sheila. He stabbed the hold button. Tearing the second sheet off he handed the paper to Jake.  
  
"Pardon!" Achille chirped into the phone. He spoke quickly preventing the other person on the line from speaking. "Forgive me, mademoiselle. I am in an important meeting with a Detective from Major Crimes. But I need to pick up that important package. Dr. Jacobsen is coming to get it now. We need to have a registration number. My associate has just left and will be contacting you before he arrives. If you'll be so kind as to wait he will be with you presently." Achille abruptly hung up. He jerked his head at Jake to leave, then smiled at a puzzled Sheila.  
  
"Hold my calls, cherie." He said and spun around.  
  
In the office Jim, who had listened in this time was frowning. Legault blazed back in with a triumphant smile on his face.  
  
"Blue Ringed Octopus," he said. Jim looked at him, his mouth starting to drop.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Blue Ringed Octopus. They're extremely rare, Detective. They come from the Great Barrier Reef area around Australia. My shipment for them has arrived. That's a cargo I don't want the average parcel service delivering. They're exquisitely beautiful but deadly poisonous. One sting can kill a man 5 times over. Where were we?" He asked as he dropped back down into his chair. He smiled pleasantly at Jim.  
  
"Samantha McClennen."  
  
"Ah yes. You need to speak with her."  
  
"If she should contact you again," Jim said and fumbled his wallet out for the third time. He extracted a card. Leaning forward he handed it to Legault holding it between the index and middle fingers of his plaster bound hand. "I need you to call me. She and I have something important to discuss."  
  
Legault took the card, reading it a moment then looked back up at Jim.  
  
"Tell me Detective, how is she really? Samantha is a special student of mine. Been in most, if not all, of my classes and has worked with me on special projects outside my capacity as Professor at Rainier. You could say I have an almost patriarchal interest in the girl as I had no children and my wife died many years ago. I'm sure you are aware of her own background?"  
  
"Only too well." Jim said slipping his wallet back in place. He pursed his lips slightly, wondering just what to tell him.  
  
"She's been through a lot lately. She wants to go back to work, but she shouldn't be allowed to push herself. Exhaustion isn't overcome in a couple of weeks and she's only just recovered from the physical wounds she suffered. Then there's dealing with the death of the crew. If you could, limit her work."  
  
Achille frowned suddenly, folded his arms and sat back in his chair. He settled a foot across his leg.  
  
"Mon ami?" he said slowly. "I am finding your interest in my protégé, most interesting. I am getting the distinct impression, monsieur, that you are here on a matter more personal than professional." He reached up a hand to stroke his chin and looked at Jim in speculation.  
  
"Which causes me to wonder, Detective Ellison, on just what your department's policy is about using your authority to gain access into a private facility to pursue matters of a personal nature?"  
  
Jim suddenly barked out a sardonic laugh. His eyes grew colder and harder as he studied Legault.  
  
"My job, Professor, is to protect and serve. Just because I happen to know the person involved doesn't diminish my responsibility, not only to that person but to the community as well. Samantha hasn't recovered from the incident she was involved in. She's been trying to recuperate and has been fighting depression since she arrived back in town a few weeks ago. You sir, said something to her in the restaurant that she knew nothing about and it caused a very bad reaction. That is of deep concern to me." Jim pointed at himself then took a step forwards and leaned down. He held up his bad hand, index pointing, left fist on his hip.  
  
"And just because it is a personal matter doesn't mean jack shit! I can start an investigation into every single cent spent on this place. Not all your funding and benefactors come with sterling reputations. One word from me and any progress on this facility can come to a screaming halt while every single piece of paperwork gets thoroughly checked and verified. And all the money and paper trails chased and followed. That could cause you some serious discomfort with your trustees and your supporters."  
  
"By the way, just because they have an official logo and government backing doesn't mean that they aren't a front for something a whole lot deeper, meaner, and nastier than what they purport to be." Jim continued to meet his eyes. "And if you or anyone else begins to mess with Sam McClennen? They're going to have something even meaner and nastier breathing down their necks." His finger shifted to point at himself again.  
  
Achille smiled slowly, wryly, never breaking Jim's intimidating gaze.  
  
"Bigger fish than you, monsieur, have threatened me." he murmured. "I am not so easily scared."  
  
Jim snorted in disgust and straightened.  
  
"If she shows up here, you tell Samantha to call me."  
  
"I will relay your message, Detective. Whether or not she responds is entirely up to her." Legault replied. The two men eyed each other a moment longer.  
  
"Monsieur, I am a busy man, and I am sure so are you. I have an Aquarium to run." The note of dismissal was hard to miss in Legault's voice. Jim just shook his head slightly, his jaw clenched.  
  
"You make sure she calls." He said flatly, being sure to emphasis just who he'd hold responsible if she didn't, then he stalked out of the room.  
  
  
  
For a long time after Jim left, Achille Legault just sat still, slowly stroking his chin, his other hand resting on his propped up leg. There was, however, no doubt of the troubled look surfacing behind his dark brown eyes. Ellison hadn't scared him, but there was something in the detective's remark about how funding could be a front for a deeper more sinister organization.  
  
Presently he stirred himself from his thoughts and rose. In the back corner of his office a circular metal plate was set in the floor. Leaning down, Achille tugged it off to reveal a lock sporting a D-handle. He pulled it up and tugged the heavy lid off the cement vault buried in the concrete of the floor. Reaching in he withdrew a large plastic bag. Settling the lock back in place he eyed the contents and stood up straight. It was full of CD's and the newer zip drive cassettes. He smiled slightly, fighting against a sudden chill, and walked out of his office.  
  
Sheila looked up at him curiously as he emerged holding the baggy. Legault said nothing as he walked past her and disappeared through the door marked Rehabilitations. Down another hallway, he made his way to the furthest door and paused as he read the name. 'Samantha McClennen, Assist. Director, Rehabilitations.' He opened the door leading into her office, still so new the smells of paint and carpet and new furnishings was almost overwhelming. Skirting the desk set near a spectacular view of the Sound, (marred only by the construction barge at work), Achille made his way to yet another safe set in the corner of her office. Within seconds his baggy of files reposed in the locked vault. Achille stood and turned, looking out over the barge. He shuddered, feeling an icy finger trail down his spine.  
  
He returned to the main lounge, heading for his office.  
  
"Sheila, cherie? Would you find out for me who the Captain is of the Major Crimes Division in Cascade and get him on the phone for me? I'd like to have a little discussion with him about his detectives."  
  
Starbucks Coffee Shop, 5th and Bayshore, Cascade  
  
Sam slumped back against the wall of the coffee shop as a shuddering sigh escaped her lips. She leaned her head against the phone booth. Though feeling cool against a head that was aching ferociously, it did nothing to calm the turmoil boiling inside of her. Achille's strange response when she had called him back had only added to the mess. Her brain worried at that a moment as she waited for the phone to ring. She glanced cautiously towards the window. She'd been dodging through alleys and shops trying to lose Blair for what seemed like hours. She shook her head, gritting her teeth, she couldn't think about him or the fact he was trying to catch up with her, without threatening to boil over in anger again. She gazed up at the ceiling, refusing to think about what had just occurred at the restaurant. She just wanted to get away from there and Blair as fast as she could.  
  
She paused a moment, scanning the street outside the shop. The place was fairly active despite the hot day and lots of people were out enjoying it. The ringing of the doorbell as folks came in and out of the shop along with their chatter and talk created just enough of a unnerving din to keep Sam feeling agitated. She frowned, her thoughts turning to Jim Ellison. He had looked decidedly angry just before she lit into her cousin. Confusion mixed with ire as she thought a moment. There was also Achille's weird response to her call. Sam tugged at a long strand of hair, pulling it back over her forehead. What in the world would Jim be doing at the Aquarium? Why would he be looking for her? She was about to think into that a bit further when the phone rang.  
  
Its loud jangling next to her startled her enough to cause her to jump, gasping out loud. She slapped a hand on her chest and snatched the phone from its receiver.  
  
"Yeah?" she asked, trying to rein in a wildly beating heart.  
  
"Sam? It's John Jacobsen. What the hell is going on?"  
  
"Dr. Jake! I am so glad it's you! Listen, what was Jim Ellison doing at the Aquarium?"  
  
"Ellison? You mean the Detective?"  
  
"Big tall guy, intimidating, looks like a Marine Recruiter's poster boy?" Sammy shot back looking out the window again. Jake, on his cell phone, chuckled.  
  
"That's him. He said he was there to talk to Achille about you. But then Achille came out and told me to get you without letting Ellison know."  
  
"There to talk about me with Achille?" Sam exclaimed, frowning in even more puzzlement.  
  
"That's what he said." Sam's mind raced as she looked up and down the street through the window.  
  
"Why in the world." Sam started then froze. Not four shops away, she spotted Blair's head disappearing into a crowd of people. "Shit!" she hissed slapping herself back against the wall.  
  
"Sam? What is it?"  
  
"Doc, listen to me. You know the south entrance into Lewis Park?"  
  
"The one for the boat launch?"  
  
"That's the one."  
  
"What about it?"  
  
"Pull into the parking lot by the trees and wait, but keep your engine running. What are you driving?"  
  
"A white Chevy S-10, 98 model."  
  
"Great! I'll be down at the south end of the park in about 15 minutes." Sam said.  
  
"But, Sam wait!" Jake started, he found himself listening to a dead line.  
  
Outside Blair paused, backing away from the crowds of people to lean against the wall as he looked around. He had spotted Sam about 20 minutes earlier but her stature had the advantage of getting lost easily in large crowds. He scowled, looking up and down the street. He hated to admit it but when it came to getting away from him, she was a master. More annoying was the fact that he continually fell for it and kept on looking. This time however he had to keep trying.Jim was really pissed.  
  
"And that's just what I need!" he growled to himself. "You just wait you little shit, you're gonna get the beating of a lifetime." he grumbled. Pushing away from the wall, he shoved his sunglasses back up his nose and set out again. Yet somehow he knew he was in a losing game. Sam's home for almost 10 years had been Cascade's waterfront. Living on the Sundogs directly on the waterfront had given the girl years to explore and crawl all over the eclectic businesses and alleys' and parks for several miles all along the Marina and Port districts.  
  
It was no wonder she was able to slip away from him from the back entrance to the Starbucks. Sam paused in the alley, weighing options then set off at a hurried pace, heading for one of the bigger parks in Cascade. A huge chunk of undeveloped land full of trees and paths for walking, Lewis Park was a cool green oasis on a hot summer day. Lots of grassy swards for playing in, a boat ramp, and sections of beach to walk. It was a popular destination for the locals. Sam bustled down an alley, connecting to a street just off the one Blair was on and began wending her way towards the park.  
  
A hunch drew Blair's attention to Lewis Park and he paused for a minute, thinking, his fingers lightly running over his upper lip as he squinted. Subconsciously his feet began moving in that direction.  
  
Frontier Boulevard bordered the edge of the Park on the east, the opposite side holding a collection of vintage residences. To the north Blair approached along Bayshore which terminated at Frontier. The south entrance further down was barely visible. One could just see the parking lot from the road. Blair walked steadily, leaving behind the last of the businesses and entering more into the residential neighborhoods. Many smaller side streets led off Frontier amongst the old homes. Blair, on the east side of the street, was walking quickly when a small figure appeared way ahead of him on one of the side streets. He smiled in triumph, breaking into a jog.  
  
"Gotcha!" He growled.  
  
Sam had just gained the sidewalk, looking south for traffic in preparation for crossing and spotting Jake in the pick-up waiting for her. She sighed in relief and glanced north.  
  
Her heart skipped a beat.  
  
Sam began to run.  
  
"Sam!" Blair yelled, seeing her take off upon sight of him. Sam ignored him, dodging abruptly past a car that slammed on its brakes, the owner laying into the horn. Blair cringed and began to run a little faster.  
  
"Sam! Stop!" he shouted as she gained the opposite side of the road. Blair was trying to wait for the traffic to thin. Blair watched as she broke into a faster run. She was running towards the south entrance. Beyond irritated Blair took off, gaining the park side of the road and setting off after his cousin.  
  
What he saw next brought him literally to a stop and left him fuming and cursing in frustration. Too far away to identify, he saw her run up to a white standard pick-up, a Chevy as far as he could see, driven by a man. She threw the door open, tumbling inside and could be seen urging the driver on. All Blair could do was watch helplessly as the truck's taillights lit up and the vehicle began to roll forward. In seconds, it gained Frontier Boulevard and drove off, leaving him behind. Blair slapped at his hip, fumbling for his cell phone. A startled glance down revealed it missing.  
  
"Son of a .!" He exploded, realizing Jim still had it from when he had taken it away from Sam in the restaurant.  
  
He stood in mute anger, his brain racing at top speed. Sam didn't associate with a lot of people in Cascade. Most all of them were associated somehow to the University and or Marine departments. He spun around digging into his jean pocket for change. He had to get in touch with Legault. He just knew he was behind this somehow. Then he had to figure a way to get a hold of Jim. Which was a prospect Blair did not look forward to.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Jake demanded, as Sam settled into the passenger seat. She looked back over her shoulder.  
  
"Tell you in a sec, just get me away from this park." Sam gasped, trying to catch her breath. Jake looked at her, she appeared to be immensely relieved. She hastily tugged the pony band off her wrist and fought with her impossible curls, pulling them out of her face. As she glanced at him, reaching for the seat belt, Jake got a real good look at her. He was appalled. Sam could see it written all over his face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Pardon me for saying this Sam, but you look terrible! What has happened to you?! Why is your face looking so gaunt?"  
  
"It's a long story, Doc."  
  
"When was the last time you ate something? Or got any sleep for that matter?"  
  
"Been sleeping fine. Why? I look too skinny or something?" Sam asked defensively.  
  
"As a matter of fact, yes!"  
  
"I sorta got stuck in a nasty mess in Canada, couple weeks back, I.uh." Sam smiled mercurially. "I sorta over-exerted myself. Doctors up there about had a cow."  
  
"What's going on now? Why is a detective asking about you?"  
  
"Doc, the detective is Blair's buddy. And he has no business coming around the Aquarium asking about me. He's got this control compulsion like you wouldn't believe. What did he want anyway?"  
  
"That I can't answer, he insisted on talking to Achille. He was in there quite a while before Achille came out and told me to come and get you without letting Ellison know. Why all the secrecy?"  
  
"Look Doc, I'll explain what I can once I talk to Achille. Right now I just need to get back to work. I'm going nuts with boredom. I understand the Dabob Facilities are ready for my raft down in Monterey?" Jake glanced at her, splitting his attention between his driving and her. He could see she was being deliberately vague and evasive. He sighed.  
  
"If by raft you mean your three menaces, then yes. Plus they have a fourth they want you to handle. I hear it's a real live-wire."  
  
"Oh that's just what I need."  
  
"Price you pay for being able to handle the tough ones."  
  
"How old?"  
  
"Six weeks."  
  
"Six weeks? That's a baby! Why aren't they rehabbing it for release?"  
  
"Blind as a bat. They found her abandoned up in Alaska, almost starved to death. Since then they've transferred her to Monterey and she has proceed to wreak the usual Lutrine havoc."  
  
"Oh great!" Sam groaned. Jake laughed.  
  
"You wanted something to fight boredom! Monterey is handing it to you on a silver platter!"  
  
Jake took the hint and the two spent several minutes catching up on work and the new Aquarium. Before too long Jake cruised up to the guard shack, explained to the man that Sam was part of the staff and would be getting her passes for entry soon, then they drove into the compound and parked. Minutes later Jake was ushering her down the hall towards the offices.  
  
Upon sight of her, Achille was out of his chair and wrapping her in his arms.  
  
"Cherie, cherie, cherie!" He scolded, trying not to laugh as he took her head in his hands and soundly kissed both cheeks. "Look at you!" He held her out at arm's length. Sam couldn't help but smile back at his exuberance.  
  
"You look." he paused a moment. "You look terrible, cherie! You're not eating enough. Isn't that cousin of yours feeding you enough food? You're as skinny as an eel! I cannot have a member of my staff thinner than the exhibits." Sam laughed.  
  
"I'm fine, Achille. Just tired a lot. It's good to see you too."  
  
"Been entirely too long, cherie! You need to stay in touch with this old man better than you have. It's been since you graduated when I saw you last."  
  
"We've talked!" Sam protested.  
  
"Talk?" Achille waved a hand. "Ship to shore radio? Telephone? That's not talk cherie, that was a job interview."  
  
"Okay, well, I'm here, now." Sam said, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"And up to your lovely neck in trouble again! Tell me, cherie, what happened at the restaurant?"  
  
Sam waved her hands, shaking her head no. "Oh, no, Achille! I can't even begin to think about that without getting mad again. My cousin! I swear, somebody put rocks in his brains. The idiot publicly admitted to fraud! I've done some stupid stuff before, but that?" Sam shook her head.  
  
"There were some extenuating circumstances were there not, cherie?" Achille asked, stroking at his chin as he stepped back and leaned against his desk.  
  
"Please Achille, That's the last thing I want to talk about right now. Jake's been telling me about Monterey."  
  
"Ahh ahh!" Achille scolded. "No work! Not just yet.You tell Jake and myself what happened to you up in Canada first. Then we'll discuss work. After talking to Detective Ellison, he told me you had overexerted yourself. Enough to land you in the hospital? I want to hear it all, young lady. Don't leave one detail out."  
  
Sam rolled her eyes at her boss, then shook her head. For the next 30 minutes she told the two men the story of her attempt to bring her sailboat back to Cascade from Alaska. As she spoke, wandering around the room, looking through the picture window, a funny niggling began to work its way into the back of her mind. She found herself avoiding the subject of Jim Ellison and somehow managed to delete his presence from the entire Canadian adventure. By the time she finished, she was gazing out the window, her arms wrapped around her middle, frowning in thought at the memory of talking with the detective at the picnic table shortly after arriving in Cascade. It suddenly became a path she didn't want to go down.  
  
"So the Sundogs is up in Prince Rupert in dry dock, the insurance company wants to total it, but I won't let them, and I lost the slip space to a Catamaran this morning." She said quietly, lost in some internal musings.  
  
"When do they expect to be finished on the boat, cherie?" Achille asked, not having moved from his spot leaning against the desk. Jake had surrendered to sitting on the couch in Achille's office.  
  
"November, at the earliest. If they don't find any more damage."  
  
Jake murmured. "I always knew there was something intrinsically wrong with Howard Ritter." Sam flashed a wan smile at him. It wasn't unusual for the Marine Biologists in a given region to either know or be acquainted with one another.  
  
"Yeah.Howard was a little more than any of us ever suspected."  
  
"Ah, but you did, cherie." Achille pointed out. "Though it shocks me that he would blow up a ship full of people."  
  
"You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed." Jake added.  
  
"So I've been told. Cormiere wants me to testify sometime soon whenever the Crown gets its case put together against Howard." Sam looked at a thoughtful Legault.  
  
"We need to keep that in mind too, Achille. I'll have to leave to go and do that. Not to mention bringing the boat back from Prince Rupert."  
  
"All in good time." Achille replied. "Do not worry, Samantha. We'll work around the obstacles somehow. Jake, mon ami? Sheila has an envelope with some tickets, would you be so kind as to get it for me?" The Director asked. Jake nodded.  
  
"Sure thing." He said. Seconds later he exited the room. Achille looked directly at Sam.  
  
"Now, cherie," he said. "What happened at the restaurant?" Sam hugged herself tighter, her face reflecting an inner turmoil.  
  
"Please Achille," she murmured. "I was so stinkin' mad at Blair that I completely lost my cool. It's kind of embarrassing."  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm sure.you sounded shocked. Tell me then, where does Ellison fit into this picture?" he asked nonchalantly. Sam, facing the window, frowned.  
  
"He's Blair's partner and his roommate."  
  
"Roommate?" Achille exclaimed. Sam glanced at him.  
  
"Been living with each other for 4 years. It wasn't until after Blair went through the police academy that he was officially partnered with him." Sam shook her head, still clutching her middle. "I still can't get over Blair becoming a cop."  
  
"So that's where Ellison comes in.you've been living under the same roof?"  
  
"Yeah." Sam heaved a sigh. "Okay Achille, I told you about Canada, what does Monterey have for me?"  
  
"Always the impatient one, cherie!" Achille chuckled. Seeing that Sam wasn't going to discuss the restaurant any more. "Sam, ma cher, I apologize for causing you such a shock at the restaurant."  
  
"Oh Achille." Sam sighed turning away. "You don't have to apologize. I was just so." she shook her head. "Blair had said some things about it but he never told me exactly what he had done."  
  
"I feel responsible though, Samantha." Achille replied. "I know Blair, I know his integrity, and I know what he went through afterwards." He turned to look at Sam. She looked at him, a crease between her brows showing her perplexity.  
  
"About losing your tenure?" she asked. Achille smiled and nodded.  
  
"Blair lost his also and all his academic credibility where my credibility remained somewhat intact. Though it turned out that Blair never submitted his dissertation in the first place and there were some major oversights on the part of the publisher, he inadvertently added more trouble when he addressed the media on the subject." Achille responded carefully. He could see his words settling into Sam's thoughts.  
  
"And apparently, cherie, the Cascade Police deemed him worthy to attend their academy and earn his rank as a detective despite publicly admitting to fraud. Which tells me, when one peeks under the surface, that there is a great deal more swimming below than there appears to be!" He winked at her. Sam shook her head, a wistful smile tugging at her lips.  
  
"Why didn't he tell me this?" she asked softly.  
  
"He's your family, Samantha. You just came out of a very bad situation. I'm quite sure, ma cher, that he was only concerned about your well-being before he said anything. Blair has always presented himself as an open and caring individual." Sam glanced at him, her hazel eyes changing color in thought. Achille smiled slowly.  
  
"Now as for Ellison." He tried again. Jake walked into the room.  
  
"Not now, Achille." Sam sighed.  
  
"Sheila had Sam's passes ready too." Jake said handing an envelope and some ID tags to Achille. Achille heaved a sigh, thwarted for the moment.  
  
"Ah duty calls!" He handed Sam the ID tags, then fished into the envelope. "Sheila has worked her magic for us, Samantha and has gotten you a flight this afternoon for Monterey. I am assuming you are free to go?" He looked at her impishly. Sam smiled back, heaving a sigh. "They are preparing that rotten threesome of yours and a fourth for transport to Dabob. You'll find the information you need on your newest project in the envelope here, I understand she's a blind female, a pup really. We've made arrangement at Dabob for you to stay a while if you like."  
  
"Like how long?" Sam asked, turning towards him, fingering the passes. Achille frowned.  
  
"As long as you need Cherie."  
  
"How about until I get my boat back?"  
  
"You don't want to go back to Blair's place?"  
  
"Achille, I don't think I am going to be welcome back there, not after today. Besides, if I'm to rehab a blind pup I'll need to be around her 24 hours a day. I know a pup won't be welcome at Blair's place."  
  
"I don't know how Dick Thompson is going to feel about that." Achille murmured.  
  
"Please Achille, pull some strings. I can ride in on the Wecoma if you need me here. Besides the techs over at Dabob can help me out with a new pup." She looked appealingly at him. Achille shook his head.  
  
"I'll talk to Dick then. However cherie, if you are to catch your flight, Jake is going to have to get you to Sea-Tac now. There's a voucher in here for your car rental, your tickets and a little money to get whatever items you need when you get there. I'm sorry it's all so sudden, but I really do wish to see your three Lutrine's in our exhibit." He smiled knowingly at her.  
  
"I need the excuse to work, Achille. Anything to keep from thinking! I'm more than happy to go."  
  
"It's settled then. Jake do you mind driving to Seattle, mon ami?"  
  
"Nope, Got to stop in at the Aquarium down there anyway. Good excuse to go. Come on Sam. Don't want to miss that flight!"  
  
Within minutes Sam and Jake departed. As Achille returned from seeing them out the main doors, Sheila flagged him down.  
  
"Achille?"  
  
"Yes, cherie?"  
  
"A Blair Sandburg's been trying to get a hold of you. I told him you were in an important meeting. He seemed very anxious to talk to you. I think he's going to try and come here."  
  
"Really?" Achille mused. He smiled slightly. "This ought to prove to be most interesting." he murmured. "Notify the guard Sheila, let him come in when he gets here."  
  
Rainier University, Political Sciences Dept.  
  
Jim Ellison was not the person Jack Kelso expected to see coming through his office door. Eyes focused on his computer monitor, he didn't break concentration, as he ran his mouse along a diagram he worked on for the upcoming teaching year.  
  
"Just set the charts on my desk, Greg. I'll get to them later," he murmured, poking his glasses back up his nose as he scanned the screen. A presence paused near his desk, a rather tall one. Jack frowned and glanced up.  
  
"Kelso." Jim said. He stood with his left hand clasping his cast before him and gazing at him with that unnerving blue eyed stare. Kelso blinked once, then sat back in his wheelchair and looked up at the detective. He was mildly amused at Jim's stance. Arms folded across his chest, head tipped slightly, no weapon visible; even with a broken wrist, Kelso knew better though. "Jim Ellison. Good night, I haven't seen you since."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Jim said, interrupting him. Kelso smirked slightly, running his hand through his dark blonde hair, flipping it off to one side.  
  
"This sounds bad." Kelso remarked. The barest of smiles graced Jim's lips.  
  
"In a manner of speaking."  
  
"It's not Blair is it? I haven't seen him since my last trip to Cascade Gen."  
  
"It's got to do with him."  
  
"Fallout from the media frenzy?" Kelso asked.  
  
"Yup." Jim replied, tight-lipped. Kelso sighed, gazing at Jim speculatively.  
  
"I didn't believe a word he said, you know." Jim nodded once.  
  
"I knew you wouldn't."  
  
"Which means that what he had was real." Kelso responded.  
  
"I knew you would figure it out." Jim replied. "And I appreciate you not saying anything about it." Kelso snorted slightly.  
  
"Hell, I have no problem with that. What the spooks don't know won't hurt them, or us. What brings you here, Jim? Blair isn't in a heap of trouble again is he?"  
  
"Familiar with Samantha McClennen?" Jim asked. Kelso froze.  
  
"Oh boy." Kelso said softly.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"One bundle of screwed up emotions."  
  
"So I've found out." Jim remarked dryly.  
  
"She in town?"  
  
"She's been staying with us."  
  
"What happened to the boat?" Kelso asked, his eyebrows climbing with surprise. Jim shook his head.  
  
"What did you hear about that research ship explosion up in Canada about three weeks ago?"  
  
"Sam was involved with that?"  
  
"She was the only witness."  
  
"I gotta hear this." Kelso slowly smiled. Jim eyes didn't reflect any humor. Jack sighed.  
  
"Okay Jim, what happened?" he asked again. "What d'you need?"  
  
"Familiar with AAOR?"  
  
Kelso frowned, drumming his fingers on the armrest of his wheelchair. His focus drifting off as he thought, then looked back at Jim.  
  
"Judging that it's Sam we are talking about, and she's a Marine Biologist, I'd say the American Association of Oceanographic Research."  
  
"You win the prize." Jim said. Kelso regarded Jim, noticing how taut the detective's jaw had become.  
  
"What would you like to know? They weren't involved with that ship blowing up were they?"  
  
"They capable of terrorist activities?" Jim asked back.  
  
"Hell, yes." Jack replied. Jim frowned. "Sam's not." Kelso asked.  
  
"That's what I want to find out. And whatever you know about Achille Legault." Jack suddenly laughed.  
  
"La renard Legault? That crafty old fox. Now I am not surprised about that. Sam on the other hand."  
  
"Why not Sam?" Jim demanded. Kelso shook his head.  
  
"Sammy's a ball of twisted emotions, but she's no spook. The girl never recovered from losing her family. Being almost as sharp as Blair and suddenly thrust into the world at the age of 14? Gaining emancipation didn't exactly help. She completely lost her childhood." Kelso shook his head.  
  
"Does everyone around here know about her?" Jim asked tersely. Kelso chuckled.  
  
"Rainier isn't your normal circle, Jim. It's Blair's. By the time you came on the scene she was gone. I really don't think Sam's capable of being a spook, Jim. More of an innocent really."  
  
"Well that 'innocent' went and told Legault that Blair was for real." Kelso looked thoughtful a moment, watching the detective before him.  
  
"I smell a breach of trust."  
  
"You're sharp, Kelso."  
  
"And you think Sam's involved with the AAOR?"  
  
"Either involved or just spilled her guts to someone who is."  
  
"With her under your roof, Detective, you'd know more than me if she were involved." Kelso shook his head. "Not Sammy. She's a bit of a mess in here," Kelso tapped his temple. "But she's solid. Damned good at what she does and dedicated. Shift your focus."  
  
"Legault then, what do you know about him?"  
  
"Pull up a chair and sit, Jim." Kelso replied, twisting around to face his computer. He began saving his screen. Jim had remained standing, Kelso glanced up at him.  
  
"What I have to tell you is going to take a few minutes," he added. Jim lifted his chin slightly in acknowledgement. He let go of his cast and reached for the chair next to Kelso's desk.  
  
As Jack switched screens on his computer and his fingers danced across the keys, he asked, "What happened to the wrist?"  
  
"McClennen." Jim replied, settling himself down in the chair. No sooner had he sat, than he reached into his back pocket and extracted his short length of coat hanger wire. Kelso shot him a surprised look, his eyebrow raised.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Hit it just right. Clean break." He began edging the wire under the cast.  
  
"On purpose?" Kelso asked, catching Jim's activity out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"No. I was keeping her from getting back on her boat. It was sinking."  
  
"The Sundogs? It sank?"  
  
"Canadian Coast Guard reached us in time to keep it from going under. It's up in Prince Rupert undergoing repairs."  
  
"Which explains Sam staying with you guys. That is a nice little sloop she's got." Kelso commented, gazing at his screen as he entered the information that he needed. "Blair coaxed me out on it one day. Had a nice time."  
  
"What do you know about Legault?" Jim asked, wriggling the wire around. Kelso smirked.  
  
"Patience Jim, I'm getting what I know for you now. I'll have it make hard copy while I tell you about his rather colorful career."  
  
"Colorful is not what I want." Jim replied.  
  
"If anyone would have possible attachments to the AAOR it would be Legault, Jim. He's a seaman, through and through, and all the AAOR is interested in is whatever can be used to further the USA's stand as a world Naval power. I won't discuss the AAOR in here." Jack said waving his hand around the room. He didn't have to look at Jim to know the detective understood him. "Achille, however, is another story." Kelso hit a few last keys then reached down and undid the brakes on his chair. He turned himself around to fully face Jim, snapping the brakes back on. A printer in the room suddenly chirped to life.  
  
"You have a legitimate concern, Jim." Jack said settling back in his chair, weaving his fingers together and resting his elbows on the armrests. He looked straight at Jim. "Achille Legault is extremely intelligent. He'll take whatever he can from anybody and use it to further his purposes. The guy is a financial mastermind, I'm not the least bit surprised he's heading up the fundraising for the new Aquarium. The trustees picked the right man for that job."  
  
"However?" Jim asked.  
  
"If he knows about you, Ellison?" Kelso said slowly, purposely addressing him by his last name. "He'll use the information to somehow further his purposes. The man has an agenda, and he's determined to get it accomplished." Jim's eyes narrowed as he gazed at Kelso.  
  
"I'd be more concerned about Sam being involved in a way that will hurt her, rather than the breach in trust she's committed. You can always address that later. Right now, she's involved with a guy who has had a very powerful influence on her life. He was her mentor. He will use her to further his own purposes. He is paternal towards her, but if he can reach his goal? He'll drop her like a rock. Sam wouldn't be able to handle that. She's lost too much already. As for you, watch your back." Kelso warned.  
  
"What is Legault's goal?" Jim asked, taking in Kelso's words. Here, Kelso chuckled, watching as Jim deftly maneuvered his wire to reach the elusive itches under his cast. Jim pinned him with an icy blue no nonsense glare.  
  
"Legault's goal?" Kelso shook his head. "The guy is convinced he cracked the language of Killer Whales about 5 years ago."  
  
Jim's face went completely blank, then the corners of his lips shot straight down as they flat-lined. Kelso shook his head as he unclasped his fingers. Reaching down, he grabbed at his right pants leg and readjusted his foot on the rest it sat on.  
  
"You want to repeat that?" Jim asked. Kelso smiled wryly, sitting back again.  
  
"Legault's convinced he can communicate with Killer Whales."  
  
"He thinks he can talk to whales?" Jim asked, incredulous.  
  
"He's convinced he has talked to them. Well, at least one." Kelso replied. Jim just gazed at him, speechless. Kelso smirked.  
  
"Let me explain. A few years ago, Achille claimed he had broken the language code to the Orca being kept at the Sea World in B.C. That Orca had been his ongoing project for years. He claimed he had all the research and had in fact communicated with the creature in question. However when the academic committees from several major Universities went to go and prove his findings out, the whale in question died. Legault tried his theories out on a second whale to utter and complete failure. Rainier denounced him as a fraud, revoked his tenure and fired him. But Legault isn't an easy man to get rid of. He was the driving force behind the City's decision to build an Aquarium for Cascade. He has the whale he failed on in the private facilities owned between Seattle and Tacoma, plus another one of his former students is the primary caretaker of the whale hit by the power boat out in the Straight of Juan De Fuca last winter."  
  
"That would be John Jacobsen?" Jim interjected.  
  
"John 'Jake' Jacobsen, that's him." Kelso nodded.  
  
"Legault ever explain why he failed?"  
  
"Legault never claimed failure." Kelso said, Jim frowned.  
  
"But he got fired?"  
  
"Legault claims that the whale he had broken the communication gap with was an Icelandic whale. The one he tried to speak with was from the Pacific Northwest."  
  
"What's that got to do with it?" Jim snapped.  
  
"Legault claims they speak different languages. The whale he had worked with spoke a different language from the one he tried to speak with."  
  
"That's insane." Jim stated flatly.  
  
"Legault can be very persuasive." Kelso said, shrugging. "He's got the two creatures over at the research facilities on the Peninsula. They'll be coming on board as the new Aquarium's main displays. If I know him, Legault will be doing his research to try and communicate with them."  
  
"You mean to tell me I am dealing with a demented Dr. Doolittle?"  
  
"I wouldn't call him demented." Kelso said calmly. "I'd be more worried about what he'd do if the AAOR tried to muscle in on his action and he could use you as a bargaining chip."  
  
"What the hell would the AAOR want with that kind of research?!" Jim demanded, rising from the chair. The wire he had been using to scratch with, now clenched in his left hand. He began pacing the room.  
  
"Think a minute, Ellison. If mankind could talk to a sea creature, like the whales and could get them to report on the enemy's whereabouts? Just think what it could do to our stand as a naval force?" Jim turned and looked at him.  
  
"That's nuts!" he replied flatly.  
  
"When has anything in covert ops not sounded like it was crazy?" Kelso shot back calmly. He could see Jim thinking. Jim's lips pulled down in a grimace.  
  
"You think Legault's capable of selling his research for espionage use?" Jim asked. Kelso pursed his lips and shook his head.  
  
"No. The man is probably one of the original environmentalists. He wants to see man and creature get along. However I do think he'd use whatever he can to get funding for his project and figure a way to keep his research out of the wrong peoples' hands. If he could get AAOR's money and not give up anything? He'd figure a way to do it. You're in a bit of a dicey position, Jim. How much does he know?"  
  
"I don't know, at this point. All I know is that Sam told him Blair's research was true. There's no telling what she's told him by now or what he's been able to get out of her."  
  
"You need to find out." Kelso said. Jim shot him a look. Kelso smirked.  
  
"I know, I'm pointing out the obvious. Just take it easy on Blair. And Sam for that matter. That girl is an emotional time bomb just waiting to go off. When she started here? She barely had time to grieve before being thrown into college level courses then fighting for legal emancipation. Blair settled in just fine, he's a people person, but he had to drag Sam to keep up. She's definitely not." Jack smiled slightly. "A people person that is. She's happiest bobbing around out on the Sound. Completely different person."  
  
"You're the first person to point out a few flaws." Jim muttered. Kelso snorted slightly.  
  
"Don't get me wrong, Jim. The girl is smart. You don't see graduates with a Masters at 22 very often. But she's a human being too and a damaged one at that. I'm sure you've heard Blair's lectures on twins and their connections? Well hers isn't anymore." Jack reached down and unlocked the wheels to his chair, turning slightly and wheeling out from around his desk. He gathered the printouts from his printer on Achille Legault and stuffed them into a manila folder then turned himself and handed it to Jim.  
  
"C'mon Jim. There's more you want to ask." Jim nodded, clutching the folder in his awkward hand and headed for the door, opening it and holding it there as Jack moved out into the hallway. "And I want to get out and enjoy that sunshine while it's here."  
  
Seconds later the two were walking across the campus, Jack was careful to lead away from Hargrove Hall and a certain fountain. He aimed them towards the botanical gardens. The campus was unusually inactive due to the in between time from Summer session until the start of the hectic Fall term  
  
"So tell me what you know about the AAOR." Jim said.  
  
"Just another black op's network. Mainly focused on what they get about Oceanographic research and the like. Then using it for whatever the Navy, the Coast Guard and the Marines can get out of it."  
  
"Would it be a problem finding out information on any of their operatives?" Jim asked. Kelso shrugged, lightly manning the wheels on his chair as they headed down a slight incline.  
  
"I think I might be able to find something in a round about sort of way."  
  
"Guy named Tim Rasmussen. Also a possible operative about my height, dark hair, early forties, previously broken nose, brown eyes and a scar along the left hairline." Jim said, following a hunch. Kelso smiled slightly as he led the way to a concrete bench set just off the path with a view of the gardens.  
  
"Give me about an hour or two Jim. I think I can come up with a few possibles. Plus whatever I can find on the AAOR," Kelso said as he maneuvered his chair alongside the bench. Locking the wheels down, he reached down and flipped the footrests up then he gripped the armrest and levered himself up out of the chair and onto the bench. He smirked at Jim, who stood by watching. "Nothing like lifting 185 pounds of dead weight to keep you in shape." He said wryly as he sat back against the bench. He heaved a sigh, closing his eyes in bliss and smiling.  
  
"And there's nothing quite like a sun warmed bench to ease an aching back!" He reached down and repositioned his legs, then sat back again and looked at Jim, who was actually smiling back at him. Jack shook his head.  
  
"Don't go stressing out, Jim. Just watch yourself and see to it that Sandburg doesn't get himself into another mess."  
  
"And what about the other?"  
  
"Move with caution. Mainly just keep an eye out for signs of a blowing out, mentally speaking. Tell her I'd like another trip out whenever she gets the boat back, too." Jim shook his head slightly then held his left hand out to Kelso. Jack gripped it.  
  
"Thanks, Jack. You got my cell number?" Jim asked as they shook hands. Jack smiled benignly and tapped his temple.  
  
"Stored away somewhere in this scary mess. I'll find you. Just be careful."  
  
"You got it." Jim replied.  
  
Seconds later, Jim was headed back to the station.  
  
1.1 Cascade Aquarium  
  
Achille at first didn't recognize Blair as he slowly walked towards the main entrance to the new Aquarium. The man paused outside, looked up at the huge, ornate, bronze, Haida whale statue and smiled in approval. Being on foot, it took Sandburg a little longer to reach the doors. It dawned on Legault that the gentleman approaching the doors with a mass of short dark curls, dressed in tan Dockers, a white T-shirt covered with a bright blue shirt and a pair of leather boaters, was Blair Sandburg. Gone was the long haired young man of campus days, known for the tears in his jeans, the hi- tops, and multi-colored vests, and a schedule that made most Professors shudder. Achille smiled slightly, Blair had matured. He found himself genuinely happy to see him.  
  
"Blair Sandburg." Achille smiled as he opened the door to let him in. He warmly gripped Blair's hand, shaking it and being rewarded with Blair's infectious grin.  
  
"Achille." Blair replied, looking around the interior. He reached up and tugged his sunglasses down his nose. "Wow!" Achille chuckled.  
  
"Welcome to Cascade Aquarium, mon ami!" Achille said proudly, holding a hand out and presenting the lobby to Blair. Sandburg's eyes were boggling as he took in several of the Lobby displays.  
  
"This place looks like it's ready to open!" Blair commented, pulling the sunglasses off and hooking them into the front of his T-shirt.  
  
"Not for several more months yet, my young friend. The displays need time to settle and mature before we can bring in the bigger creatures. Then they need time to settle down also." Blair's curiosity got the better of him. He made his way past the entrance turnstiles and approached a large ground level tank, a good four feet deep, filled full of tidal creatures, bubbling happily. Near the front, on the floor of the tank itself, were the remains of a crab. Achille smiled proudly.  
  
"I'd suggest you not put your hand on the tanks edge." He said in caution as Blair peered around. "Henry is abnormally friendly." Blair looked at Achille and grinned.  
  
"Giant Pacific Octopus?" he asked. Achille nodded.  
  
"He likes to hold hands."  
  
Blair chuckled standing up straight and looking at the other displays. "Perfect!"  
  
"Yes, He should give children quite a thrill!"  
  
"And Mom's a conniption! Oh man." Blair suddenly moved away, attracted by a huge cylindrical tank set further back into the room, in a dark corner but with plenty of room to walk all the way around it. It went from floor to ceiling. Blair laughed his amazement peering intently at the creatures inside.  
  
"Now that is so cool!" he exclaimed. Lit from above by a fluorescent light, several eerily white jellyfish slowly rose and descended in a never-ending parade of tentacles and billowing bell-like bodies. Prominently marked with a distinctive 4-leaf clover pattern, the lighting enhanced the photoelectric blue lights chasing themselves around and around in the surreal creatures bodies. It looked like something from a strange and bizarre dream.  
  
"That ought to generate some attention, eh?" Achille commented. Blair chuckled again, standing up straight and reaching back to scratch at the curls on the back of his head.  
  
"It's got my attention!"  
  
Achille smiled at him and looked around. "Let me show you around, mon ami, and we can talk. You did come here to talk did you not?" Blair shot him a glance, still smiling at the jellyfish and nodded.  
  
"I need to get a hold of Sam. We had a terrible argument and I really need to talk to her. She hasn't come here has she?" Blair asked as Achille, stroking his lips, turned away from Blair, his mind racing.  
  
"As a matter of fact, she has." Achille murmured leading Blair to another set of display tanks set in the walls of the foyer.  
  
"Really?!" Blair asked, hopeful. "Where is she, Professor? I've really got to talk to her."  
  
"I'm afraid that's going to be a bit difficult, mon ami." Achille said softly, pointing out to Blair several different sets of tanks containing native Puget Sound species. Blair looked at him.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She's not here." Blair felt a cold hand grip his stomach.  
  
"Where is she?" Achille turned from Blair, pushing open a door that led to an intersection of several pathways with signs marking the trails throughout the Aquarium grounds. The two men began walking down one of them.  
  
"She was, how shall I put it, very agitated, when she came here this afternoon. Quite disturbed actually. What prompted such an argument between you two, Blair? She was very upset." Achille sounded paternally concerned.  
  
"Oh man." Blair groaned, taking in the scenery around him. "It was huge misunderstanding, Achille. Kinda personal too. Where'd she go? I really should talk to her about it."  
  
"I'm afraid you may have to wait, mon ami," Achille said gently, leading towards a huge section involving tidal pools built to encourage people, young and old, to crawl all over the rocks and explore while getting sprayed by the constant influx of machine created waves. Sea life flourished all over the exhibit. Blair looked at Achille sharply.  
  
"Why's that? Look, I really need to talk to her, Achille." He stressed. "She's been under a lot of stress lately and I just piled on a lot more. I have to talk to her."  
  
"Quite out of the question at the moment, Mr. Sandburg." Achille replied gently. Blair frowned. Achille smiled at him, waving a hand.  
  
"I sent her to Monterey." Blair blinked in shock.  
  
"You did what?!" he snapped in surprise.  
  
"Calm yourself, Blair. No need to get upset. I sent her to Monterey."  
  
"As in California? Please tell me you're joking!"  
  
"On the contrary, she left 45 minutes ago. It is vital that we get her three otters up here and acclimated for entrance into this new facility. Time is of the essence. Plus there is a special project waiting for her down there to bring back. She insisted on going, so I made the arrangements." Blair threw a hand in the air before slapping a thigh in disgust as he turned away from Achille.  
  
"Oh that's just great!" he sarcastically replied. He turned towards the Director. "When's she due back?"  
  
"That's debatable." Achille said as he folded his arms and regarded Blair with curiosity.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Blair shot back, his eyes revealing his brain going at break-neck speed.  
  
"Well." Achille shifted. "She requested that I make arrangements for her to stay at the private facilities on the Peninsula." Blair stared, as Achille looked uncomfortable. Something began niggling at the back of his brain.  
  
"For how long?" He demanded. Achille cringed.  
  
"Until her boat is ready." Achille said softly looking sympathetically at Blair. Blair froze, staring at the man.  
  
"I already talked to the facility operator and he agreed."  
  
"Oh great!" Blair snapped, fists on hips, he looked away, pursing his lips in disgust.  
  
"This had to do with your media conference, didn't it, mon ami?" Achille asked gently. Blair was staring at one of the tide pools as a wave crashed in, billowing mist up all around it, followed by the gentle susurration of the water draining back. Blair muttered a curse. The cooling spray felt good in the summer heat as it settled over the two men.  
  
"Yes, it does."  
  
"I got the impression that Samantha didn't know a thing about it." Achille watched Blair closely.  
  
"She knew I hadn't gone for my Doctorate and she knew I had become a cop, but she didn't know why."  
  
"Ahh." Achille breathed, looking askance at another section of exhibit. "I thought I had inadvertently said something I shouldn't have."  
  
"No, no Professor, it's not your fault. She didn't know anything about the media fracas involved. She really wasn't ready to hear it considering everything that's happened to her this month."  
  
"She told me about what happened to her in Canada."  
  
"She tell you what the doctors said about overexerting herself?" Blair looked at the other man. Achille pursed his lips slightly, shaking his head, thinking.  
  
"She had nearly 50 stitches across the back of her shoulders, Professor, she had lost a lot of blood in the explosion. She then spent a week pushing her self past the exhaustion point. She literally collapsed on us. The doctors told her she needs to take things very slow as she can easily relapse at this point, not to mention compromising her immune system. She's only just gotten back on her feet, the last thing she should be doing is taking on a heavy work load. And now she and I have had a huge misunderstanding. I need to talk to her." Blair stressed.  
  
"I understand that, mon ami, alas I am helpless to do anything in that regard. What I am most curious about Mr. Sandburg is where the detective comes into all of this?"  
  
Blair looked at Legault and felt a sense of mistrust creeping up his spine.  
  
"Which detective?" he asked. Achille chuckled.  
  
"Come now, Mr. Sandburg, there is only one other involved here, besides yourself."  
  
"Jim? He's my roommate. Was he here earlier?" Blair asked. Achille nodded, choosing not to reply. Blair somehow managed to hide the feeling of dread he was getting.  
  
"He's probably just as concerned about Sam as I am, he knows even more about her condition than I do, Jim's a former Army medic. Her phone call to you really upset her."  
  
"Was he the object of your dissertation?" Achille asked.  
  
"What dissertation?" Blair shot back, watching Achille closely. The man's face was inscrutable as he regarded him. Achille smiled like a cheshire cat.  
  
"We both know what dissertation we're talking about, mon ami."  
  
"My dissertation was on Close Societies, focusing on Law Enforcement. What got loose to the publisher was a joke, Professor. One that the publisher did not have permission to publish or announce. We even have police phone records attesting to that fact."  
  
"Really?" Achille asked innocently. "There was no subject on Sentinels then?"  
  
Blair's eyes narrowed slightly. "What's this got to do with Sam?"  
  
"She did say what you had written was true."  
  
"Sam was only defending me, I'm virtually the only family she's got left. What I had written on Closed Societies is true. That Sentinel thing." Blair waved a hand, glancing at the professor. "It's become an Albatross. It cost me a teaching career and a Doctorate, not to mention a heap of media embarrassment. You ought to relate. Your thing on bilingualism in whales cost you your tenure and your position at Rainier."  
  
"But I know that whales do indeed have languages, and I cracked one of them. There is a grain of truth behind every controversy."  
  
"The grain of truth is that I wrote a thesis on Sentinels as a joke against my roommate and it got shipped off to a disreputable publisher, by someone else's involvement, which then got announced it to all and sundry, directly against my express wishes. It nearly cost a man his career and reputation. It also nearly killed two people I know and care about."  
  
"So you sacrificed yours to save his? That is a very noble thing to do, mon ami." Achille purred.  
  
"I'd do it again if the same situation came up." Blair said. "This, however, has nothing to do with Sam."  
  
"She was quite disturbed by what I had told her, mon ami." Achille let the intent hang.  
  
"Sam's always believed I was headed for a Doctorate in Anthropology. To come back here after being gone several years and discover I switched careers in mid-stream? Then went in a direction totally different from what I had intended, completely caught her off guard. She was already under enormous pressure from her situation in Canada, she didn't need any more concerning how I ended up changing careers." Blair looked at the older man directly.  
  
"Between the two of us, we've managed to make life extremely uncomfortable for her. I think we both should be doing something to help get her out of that mess."  
  
"That may well be, Mr. Sandburg, but I am still most curious why your roommate would get himself so involved."  
  
"He cares, it's his job. Besides, she's lived under his roof now for almost three weeks. It's hard not to be involved. Sam needs a lot of support just now. Which is where I dropped the ball. I have got to talk to her, Achille."  
  
"I think maybe Samantha needs some time away from this situation." Achille murmured, stroking his upper lip thoughtfully. "Maybe you should consider stepping back and letting her come to terms with all the changes. You and your partner."  
  
"No." Blair said flatly. "No, that's not possible, Achille. I have got to talk to her, and she has a string of legal obligations she has to be on top of. She's the key witness in the Crown's case up in Canada and has agreed to be at their beck and call in the event they need any testimony from her. It was the only way they'd let her leave the country."  
  
"Well then give me their numbers and I'll see to it that they can reach her here. I'm afraid she was quite insistent on not returning to your home."  
  
"That's not going to work Achille, Sam's got to talk to me or Jim." Blair asserted. His eyes brightened as he studied Legault. He suddenly began to chuckle with amusement.  
  
"You believed that crap about Sentinels didn't you? That's why you're asking me about Jim, isn't it?" Blair laughed.  
  
"You know. I thought that you, of all people, wouldn't get caught up in the media bullshit that they throw out to the public. They're sensationalists! What could be better than a modern day Superman tale? You swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, Achille." Blair smiled, shaking his head in pity. "I thought maybe after what happened with you and Ootik, you'd understand about the media being full of shit. But I see they blinded you too." Blair snorted softly, still shaking his head in disbelief.  
  
Achille froze for a split second. He began to restlessly bounce his leg as he suddenly looked up at the clear sky and squinted. Still dangling around his neck on a cord, he fumbled with his sunglasses, slipping them back on. He didn't look at Blair, whose smile had suddenly become subtly predatory.  
  
"Sam just had five people she worked with killed in an explosion. Remember what she was like when she first started going to Rainier? She was already in serious denial, then to have everyone tell her that she didn't have time to grieve because she had to do this and do that? She buried it. None of us would let her deal with it, Achille. So she didn't. Now she's facing the same situation and we're not letting her deal with it. I still don't think she's ready to face my situation, but now we have to. Do you see why I have to speak with her? And can you see why she shouldn't be taking on a heavy work-load? Sam's not letting herself face what's been happening, she's got to deal with the deaths that have occurred in her life or she's going to go crazy." Blair pointed at himself.  
  
"I am certainly not going to let her go stark raving mad. She's my family, and if you care one ounce about her, Professor, you'd try to help her out, too."  
  
"She's vital to this project, mon ami." Achille said curtly. "This Aquarium is going to become the showcase of the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the world! Samantha's talents in rehabilitating creatures either for display or to the wild, are integral to the success of this project. Her otters in Monterey are crucial to the Marine lutrine exhibits and her work, under my direction, will become the standard, world wide, in the preservation of marine species. With more training, she'll become proficient in the handling of Orca's as well as Marine Otters. We have only a short amount of time left to get this Aquarium up to its full potential before opening to the public, this December. Samantha needs something other than death to focus on! Her work with my whales and her otters will become internationally recognized!"  
  
"You know, you and this damn Aquarium can go to hell, Achille!" Blair exploded. "You're talking about my cousin, like she's some sort of exhibit, herself! Good God, man, are you listening to yourself? Have you heard anything I said? Sam's on a one way trip to self-destruction and all you can think about is this overgrown fish pond!" Blair waved a hand angrily at the Aquarium in general.  
  
"There was a time I really admired you, Professor. Now I'm beginning to believe what people have been saying about a crazy old man who thinks he can talk to fish!"  
  
Achille glared at Blair through his sunglasses, his foot tapping angrily as he folded his arms.  
  
"I am very disappointed in you, mon ami." he said in a low, cold voice. "You have changed from that bright young man I knew in college."  
  
"Oh yeah, man." Blair shot back, watching Achille, a smile of disbelief on his face as he shook his head. "I grew up."  
  
He pulled his own sunglasses out of his shirt, unfolding them with the snap of a wrist, his words heavy with implication.  
  
"I'm gonna talk to her, Achille, with or without your help." He murmured, slipping his own glasses on. "Even if I have to meet her at the airport. And I'll have no trouble finding out which flight she's on." He let his intent hang. Achille began to frown as he sucked in air in preparation to argue.  
  
"I don't have time to mess with you, Professor," Blair said, cutting him off. "I have a hell of a lot more important things to do than argue with a Svengali who thinks he can manipulate a member of my family into helping him 'talk to the animals'." Blair made imaginary quote marks with his fingers. "Her well-being is far more important then your fish tanks. And I will see to it she realizes that." Blair looked at the Cascade Director one last time with pity. Then he turned on his heel and walked away.  
  
"Don't bother showing me out, I know the way," he said, and left.  
  
Achille stood rooted in place, the sounds of the tide pool waves crashing back and forth. Blair was out of sight when an angry grimace crossed Legault's features. Seconds later he was storming down the hallway, startling Sheila who watched as the man disappeared into the break room towards his office.  
  
Legault grabbed a drawer to his file cabinet and jerked it open, beginning to dig his way through files and folders, his whole body shaking in repressed anger. Presently he hauled out a folder, resting it in one hand and rifling through it with the other. Finding what he wanted, he tossed the file haphazardly onto the clutter of his desk then reached down and tugged out the AAOR business letter with Tim Rasmussen's card. He smirked.  
  
"Mon ami." he murmured. "You and I are going to have a most interesting discussion at dinner tonight." He looked at the object he had gleaned from the file. It was a graduation day picture of himself, Sam McClennen, and Blair Sandburg.  
  
  
  
  
  
1.2 Alaskan Airline's Flight 182  
  
Sam settled back into her seat as the plane taxied to the end of the runway. She held the folder Achille gave to her across her lap, laid her head back against the seat and tried to ignore the pounding in her skull. It made her feel fuzzy and numb. Too much was happening at once. She sucked in air and held it as the plane gained speed, hurtling down the runway before lifting off into the clear Seattle skies. She finally sighed as the plane leveled out.  
  
She looked down at the envelope, ignoring the view of Seattle sitting like a jewel on a sparkling Elliot Bay as the plane banked around before orienting itself for the flight to San Francisco. Once there, she'd be flown by jet to Monterey. She sighed, opening the envelope, pulling out the documentation on the latest otter. She looked at the photo, wincing. A six week old pup, a female, with the unmistakable glassy blue eyes of the blind, found starving to death on a beach near Clikatat Bay in Alaska. Tentatively the staff had named her after the Bay and was currently treating her as a possible returnee, until she got there. An important step, Sam noted with approval. Most baby otters were not allowed to hear the voices of their caregivers. Otters imprinted by sound and impression was critical to avoid. Once a baby could identify the voice of a human, rehabilitation became five times more difficult. They were going to allow her to be the first one to speak to the creature. That would make the transition into Aquarium life that much more easy for the little critter. She read the details on the otter and shook her head. Though blind, the animal had the typical 'Type A' personality of sea otters and had managed to wreak havoc already. She was in for a challenge.  
  
Sam shook her head, trying to ignore the pain, and glanced out the window at a spectacular view of the Cascades. Her thoughts began to drift. Staring out the window, the scenes earlier in the day replayed themselves slowly in her mind's eye. The loss of the Marina slip, Blair searching her out on the jetty, chasing him across the rocks only to have Jim suddenly appear.  
  
Jim.  
  
Sam frowned. He had been rather sweet, helping her get up out of the rocks. Despite her being annoyed as hell at Blair. Then there was that entire episode at the restaurant. A trace of a smile appeared on her lips as the jet cruised slowly past Mt. Rainier. Jim had been funny and relaxed, teasing Blair unmercifully. She wondered how much of what he had said about the different smells had been true? Then the way he had ordered her lunch. Sam groaned softly, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples with the fingers of one hand. The long forgotten lunch. She recalled the phone conversation with her boss. She still felt shocked at what he had said about Blair calling himself a fraud on national television. Her thoughts drifted to Jim again. He had looked rather angry just seconds before she ripped into Blair. Sam frowned. Her eyes seeing nothing outside the plane as she went back over the details of the conversation with Achille. Why was Jim so mad? She wondered again why he had shown up at the Aquarium looking for her. As the conversation rolled through her conscious thoughts she heard her voice saying,  
  
"Achille, he wasn't lying, Jim is a Sentinel!"  
  
She was suddenly fumbling with her seat belt, her hands shaking nearly uncontrollably as her face went white with shock  
  
"Excuse me!" She said shakily, grabbing the seat in front in her as she hauled herself upright, the notes from the latest project spilling in a flutter of paper work to the cramped space at her feet. The two people next to her hastily made room for her to get by, looking at her in sympathy as she gained the aisle.  
  
"S'all right." One of them said, "I used to get airsick myself." Sam didn't reply, she stumbled down the aisle towards the back of the plane, barely getting inside the infinitesimally small airplane bathroom before a case of the dry heaves attacked her.  
  
"Oh shit." she groaned, jamming her foot against the door, as she bent her head. One hand fumbled with the lock on the door. The overpowering deodorant smell of the bathroom compounded the nausea washing over her as she retched bile into the toilet bowl. Dizziness washed over her as she realized, to her utter horror, that she had not only broken her promise to Blair's roommate about what he really was, but she had blurted it out loud. Jim had undoubtedly heard her. She frantically tried controlling the heaves washing over her. No wonder he had looked so mad. Sam pulled back, trying to find a cup to wash the vile taste out of her mouth. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.  
  
She was nearly grey in shock.  
  
"Oh dear God." She breathed, reaching a badly shaking hand to her face. "He's gonna kill me."  
  
1.3 Cascade Police Dept., Major Crime Division  
  
Simon spotted Jim as he was making his way back to his office from the break room. Ellison was emerging from the elevator, a folder in his bad hand, aiming straight across the hall for the bullpen, a determined look on his face. Simon smiled sourly, veering left into the bullpen then right towards Jim's desk where the detective had just come around, getting ready to sit down as his good hand reached down to jiggle the mouse to his computer to wake the thing up.  
  
"Would you care to step into my office please?" Simon said in a low, cold voice as he walked past Jim's desk. He rounded past Brown's desk and turned right towards his own office. Brown, who was sitting at his desk, looked up at Simon in surprise then looked at Jim, who was looking back at him. Simon paused in his office door, holding it open as a puzzled frown creased Jim's brow.  
  
"And tell that partner of yours I want him in here too." Simon added. Jim straightened, dropping the folder on his desk. Brown suddenly looked extremely preoccupied, as Jim, easily sensing the air of anger, visibly became a block of ice as he stalked towards Simon.  
  
"Damn Ellison, don't go taking four hour lunches anymore." Brown murmured sympathetically knowing Jim would hear it. Jim paused at the doorway looking squarely at Simon, as he ignored Henri.  
  
"Captain." He said, as his ice blue eyes searched Simon's own. Simon nodded at the inside of the room.  
  
"Where's your partner, detective?" He asked coolly. Jim, his jaw beginning to clench, squinted at the face of his superior.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Mind telling me why?" Simon asked as Jim turned from him, entering the office. The door abruptly shut. Simon made his way to his desk. He jabbed at a button on his phone as Jim looked at him sharply. He couldn't help but feel that Simon was pissed.  
  
"Rhonda? Hold my calls." Simon clipped out, then he looked directly at Jim.  
  
"You've been gone for four hours and you don't know where your partner is?"  
  
"No sir." Jim replied. He didn't bother with explanations. It wouldn't help.  
  
"That's not what I want to hear, Jim." Simon snapped. "Since you don't know where your partner is, would you mind explaining to me what you have been doing this afternoon?"  
  
"Something came up." Jim replied simply. Simon slowly straightened his shoulders.  
  
"I would like a little more detail than that, detective." Simon replied sarcastically. Jim studied him a moment.  
  
"You won't want to hear it." Jim stated flatly, trying not to let his own anger out.  
  
"Try me, Ellison." Simon shot back, smiling wolfishly. Jim slowly lifted his chin, his whole manner going rigidly military. He gripped his cast behind his back as he settled into a impassive stance.  
  
"Sandburg and I decided to take his cousin out to lunch. We had a problem come up. Sandburg went after her. I followed up on some other things."  
  
"You followed up on some other things." Simon echoed back. "Would you please be more explicit, detective?"  
  
"Where's this leading?" Jim asked. Simon smiled thinly.  
  
"Besides dealing with the Commissioner and the Mayor's office, what is the one thing I hate the most?"  
  
"Why the twenty questions, Simon?"  
  
"I hate dealing with irate citizens who have political clout with half the major fundraising corporations in this city. Who each have their own political ties to the previously mentioned offices that I hate to deal with the most!" Simon replied caustically, ignoring Jim's question.  
  
"And I hate having to placate their ruffled feathers over the actions of one of my detectives who takes it upon himself to go about playing a knight in shining armor and stomping all over their turf!" Simon's voice rang. Jim was impervious. He only gazed back at the man, impassive as a block of granite.  
  
"What the hell where you thinking, threatening to run the fundraising records of the new Aquarium through the wringer over a personal matter!? One involving Sandburg's cousin of all people!?" Simon nearly shouted. Jim suddenly smiled sardonically, shaking his head.  
  
"That sorry son of a bitch." he snorted softly with laughter.  
  
Simon's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "I want an explanation, Jim!" Simon's voice demanded, suddenly dropping well into the arctic zone. Jim fixed him with his eyes, his face hard, and completely hiding the turmoil colliding inside of him.  
  
"You already know Sandburg's cousin knows about." Jim deliberately didn't finish the question. He loosenedd his hand and jerked a thumb at himself. Simon glared at him.  
  
"What's that got to do with Cascade Aquarium and its Director!?" He snapped. Jim kept him fixed with his intent blue eyes.  
  
"Achille Legault is McClennen's new boss." Simon froze.  
  
"I don't want to hear this!" he abruptly exploded. Jim pursed his lips and looked away.  
  
"I told you, you wouldn't want to."  
  
"What the hell does she have to do with this mess, Ellison!? I thought we would be finished with her after that Canadian disaster you were in!" Simon yelled. Jim scowled and slowly began to pace like a caged, wary cat in front of Simon's desk.  
  
"McClennen is privy to some things she didn't need to know about."  
  
"Who told her?!" Simon demanded.  
  
"No one. She figured it out."  
  
"What does all this have to do with Legault?" Simon snapped. Jim scowled again, reaching up and scratching at the back of his skull, his mind racing. Simon could see, even through the anger, that Jim was being extremely cautious.  
  
"McClennen was told something this afternoon about that incident where you were shot." Jim said, looking over at Simon and pointing down at the floor where Simon had taken a sniper's bullet in his own office. Simon had taken several bullets over the course of his career. "Something about it that she knew nothing about and that upset her beyond reason." Simon wasn't stupid. His eyes began to reveal understanding as Jim kept things vague.  
  
"Sandburg."  
  
Jim smiled thinly, nodding in approval at Simon. The tall, black, Captain of Major Crime nearly groaned. He slowly sat down.  
  
"McClennen revealed something to her boss." Jim said. Simon finally let a moan of despair out.  
  
"I don't want to hear this! How many other members of his family are going to make life miserable for me?" He groaned. Jim shrugged, almost helplessly, as he paced in front of the desk.  
  
"Sandburg went to talk to her while I went to tie up other things." Jim responded. Simon looked up at him.  
  
"Other things as in."  
  
Jim just glanced back at Simon and slowly shook his head no as he continued walking a path into the floor.  
  
"There's more?" Simon asked. And Jim nodded yes.  
  
"How the hell did this all happen?!" Simon finally exploded. Jim smiled sourly.  
  
"Sandburg neglected to tell her some important details."  
  
"He did what?!" Simon blew. His hands gripped the front of his desk to keep from breaking anything. "Where the hell is he?" he demanded in a low growl.  
  
"I don't know, I ended up with his cell phone." Jim snapped back.  
  
"Why the hell did you have to go and say anything to Legault!?"  
  
"I didn't say anything to him." Jim jerked his hands up in frustration as he paced, "I went there to speak with McClennen and he basically told me to butt out. She wasn't there anyway."  
  
"So you decided to flex a little muscle and intimidate the man? Jim, you stomped on the wrong guy's toes!" Simon yelled. Jim just nodded and smiled bitterly.  
  
"I had to." Jim said looking at Simon. The message was clear to Banks coming from Jim's eyes. 'There's more.'  
  
"Call me a loose cannon, do whatever the hell you want, jerk me off the street. But if I have to step on the guy's toes again, you better damn well believe I will." Jim coldly replied.  
  
"I can't let you go running around on personal business, alarming the hell out of people over a matter that should have been allowed to die a long time ago! For cryin' out loud Jim, he wants to lodge a formal complaint against you!"  
  
"So, let him." Jim shrugged. "He's trying to call my bluff. I needed to talk to McClennen and somehow I am going to talk to her."  
  
"What about Sandburg!?" Simon snapped back.  
  
"Oh, he and I are going to have a real good discussion over this." Jim replied caustically.  
  
"I don't need you two at each others throats again," Simon warned. "You two need this to be a dead issue. This whole department moved heaven and earth to get him to the spot where he's at now, and that is as your partner! I want the matter resolved and I want it resolved NOW! And don't ever let me catch wind of you going anywhere near Legault again."  
  
"What Sandburg and I are going to discuss has nothing to do with how he became my partner. What we're going to discuss is his neglect to inform someone of something important. Which has the possibility of leading to something a lot uglier than any of us can imagine." Jim looked pointedly at Simon.  
  
In the bullpen, Henri continued to work, hunched over his desk. Cringing from time to time as the voices in the office kept rising and lowering. Though muffled, one couldn't help but notice the ire in each wave. He was bent like that when he heard a familiar sound and looked up in time to see Blair entering the bullpen.  
  
"Hairboy!" Brown greeted as Blair leaned over Jim's desk en route to his own.  
  
"Henri? You seen Jim?" Blair asked, looking a bit ruffled around the edges.  
  
"Oh yeah." Henri replied and nodded at Simon's office door. As if on cue a new round of angry voices crested and fell. Blair, usually in constant move mode, actually froze. Henri looked at him sympathetically.  
  
"Oh shit." Blair breathed.  
  
"What's going on?" Brown asked. Blair winced and glanced at him as he began to move towards the door.  
  
"Too deep to get into, Henri."  
  
"Sandburg, I wouldn't go in there." Brown warned in alarm.  
  
"How long have they been at it?"  
  
"'Bout 15 minutes now, Banks is pissed off!"  
  
"So I can tell." Blair muttered. Then he looked at Henri. "Banks is pissed off?" He looked perplexed as he paused by the door, gripping the knob. He was just raising his hand to knock when Jim jerked the door open. All Blair had to do was look into Jim's polar eyes.  
  
"Where the hell have you been, Sandburg?" Simon's voice boomed from the office recesses. Jim just flicked his eyes, indicating Blair had better get inside. Brown dove back into his paperwork. Blair stepped inside, his hands up and out, indicating no weapons, a classic defensive move. He looked from one to the other as Jim shut the door.  
  
"Guys?" he asked.  
  
"Captain!" Banks roared. Blair cringed.  
  
"Captain." He looked at Jim, raising an eyebrow slightly, feeling apprehensive.  
  
"Where's Sam?" Jim clipped.  
  
"And where have you been?" Simon demanded.  
  
"You don't want to know where she is." Blair said cautiously, then he looked at Simon. "I've been at the Aquarium talking to Achille." Simon groaned.  
  
"Not you too!"  
  
"What?" Blair asked frowning. He felt Jim's hand drop onto his shoulder. Puzzled he looked at the detective as Jim's hand turned into a painful vise grip. He reached up to remove the hand, wincing and looking at Jim.  
  
"Hey man, that's." he started and noticed Jim tipping his head to listen.  
  
"Sandburg." Simon started.  
  
"Shh!!" Blair suddenly burst out, waving his other hand at the Captain as he grabbed Jim's fingers. Closer than the Captain was, Blair could see Jim's pupils expanding until there was almost no blue left as he began systematically examining the room. Nostrils flared, as if he were trying to sniff out the enemy, Jim began to turn, forcing Blair to move with him by the grip he had on his shoulder. Blair winced at the grasp Jim had on him, only too willing to follow. Simon stared at the two as if watching some sort of macabre dance. For those who knew what Ellison was, it didn't take a great leap in logic to see that Jim was searching the room. Simon rubbed at his pounding temples, shoving his gold rimmed glasses up for a moment. Blair started talking in a low voice, almost hypnotic. Simon sighed, it was part of their 'thing'.  
  
"Next time Jim, give a guy some warning, will ya? Before you go grounding out? That hand's gotten a hell of a lot stronger since you broke your wrist and what you are doing with it now is hurting like a son of a bitch! And I don't appreciate being used as a human lightning rod! There are times when you can be the most overbearing ass on the planet when it comes to this shit!" He and Jim continued the slow turn around the room, now facing the disbelieving Banks. Blair gave him a weak, sardonic grin.  
  
"And somehow you need to warn Simon when you are about to do a sweep of the room for bugs. He doesn't appreciate being left in the dark." Blair smiled slightly in amusement at Simon's eyes nearly bulging from their sockets at the mention of bugs. "Besides? Who would want to bug his office? What's gotten you so paranoid? I know Sam's committed a major faux paux, but why the extra measures?"  
  
Completing the turn, Jim shook his head slightly and released his grip on Blair's shoulder.  
  
"Ahhhh!" Blair groaned, reaching up and rubbing at the spot while circling the arm in question. He glared up at Jim who was glaring back down at him.  
  
"I heard every word you just said."  
  
"Good." Blair responded still making faces at the pain. "This just cost me a few bruises! What the hell was that all about?"  
  
"Need to make sure it's safe to talk in here."  
  
"Why?!" Simon snapped.  
  
"Can't go into it Simon. You need a certain amount of deniability." Jim shook his head again. Blair could see a sheen of sweat on Jim's temples. Whatever he had done, he'd stretched himself to do it. Especially, if his shoulder had anything to say about it. Jim was still glaring down at him.  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"Let it wait, Jim."  
  
"I don't have time to wait!" Jim snapped back. "I want to know where she is."  
  
"You won't be able to do anything, anyway, Jim." Blair replied turning away from his irate partner and looking at Simon.  
  
"I'd kinda like to know myself!" Simon replied sarcastically.  
  
"And you'd better believe, you and I are going to have a good long sit-down on this one." Jim threatened back. Blair sighed.  
  
"Why?" He asked, looking back at Jim. "You want me to apologize for screwing up and pushing all your fear based buttons again?" Jim's jaw visibly clenched a little tighter at Blair's sudden response. Blair sighed and held his hands up, placatingly, fixing Jim with his own eyes. He pointed his fingers at himself.  
  
"Look, I screwed up. Okay? Are you happy? I admit it. I apologize. I did not make a good judgement call where Sam's concerned. I should have told her more."  
  
"Did I just hear you apologize for screwing up?" Simon asked in disbelief. Blair shot a look at him.  
  
"Oh come on!" He exclaimed. "How many times have I apologized to you and Connor over that shooting crap? Or to you for the screw up with the diss?" He looked back at Jim, who had once again turned into a human statue. The specter of Blair giving up everything he had ever hoped to be, for him, appeared briefly, like a will o the wisp behind Jim's light blue eyes. Blair suddenly waved his hands and drew in a deep breath, closing his eyes, shaking his head.  
  
"Jim." He said, exhaling slowly. "Look, I'm sorry man, all right? I know I should've told her. I didn't expect a reaction like what I got. She's like my kid sister, okay? That's the only excuse I have. I thought I should wait until she was a little more with it. I was wrong. I screwed up. Now obviously something else has come up." He looked at Jim, concern all over his face. "What can I do to help you out of this?"  
  
Jim stood immobilized, still glaring at Blair. Simon discovered he was holding his breath. Jim finally scowled, turning his head to glare out the window, his lips curving downwards and folding his arms.  
  
"Where is she?" He asked again. Blair sighed, his shoulder slumping in relief. Simon breathed again.  
  
"She's in Monterey, California."  
  
"What?!" Both men chorused. Blair threw his hands back up into the air in a gesture of defeat. He began to pace the room in the exact location Jim had only moments before.  
  
"I told you, you didn't want to hear it!"  
  
"How the hell did she get clear to California!?" Simon exploded.  
  
"Legault." Jim said flatly, looking disgusted. Blair nodded.  
  
"Achille sent her. And I am getting worried."  
  
"Worried?!" Simon burst. "What for?"  
  
"Achille's acting.possessive. It's like Sam's become his main reason for the Aquarium's success. I get the distinct feeling he sent Sam off as fast as he did to keep me away from her. It's not like Achille at all."  
  
"Shit." Jim replied. Then he looked at Blair. "Better make that you and me."  
  
"Why? What did you say to him? He kept trying to ask me questions about you." Blair raised a hand, stopping Jim before he could respond. "I didn't say anything Jim! You ought to know me better than that." Jim sighed in disgust, pursing his lips and shaking his head. He forced his arms a little tighter, the muscles in his arms, neck, and jaw straining. He nervously flexed the fingers of his bad hand.  
  
"Legault has filed a complaint against Jim. Or at least he's threatening to." Simon said. Blair shot Jim a surprised look then shook his head, closing his eyes.  
  
"Oh that's just great!"  
  
"Why would he send her to Monterey?" Jim clipped.  
  
"Sam's got three otters there that are being transferred to this Aquarium. And apparently a fourth one is being offered. Technically, it's job related, he's sent her there for them. I smell an ulterior motive and I don't think Sam knows why."  
  
"Unless she said something more, and he's protecting his interest."  
  
"Jim, I think she was too surprised to say anything more. You saw how mad she got at me. Practically tore my head off."  
  
"You think?" Jim snapped. "You can't tell what her reactions are from one second to the next!"  
  
"She's acting a little erratic, I'll admit that."  
  
"A little?" Jim asked in disbelief. Blair gave him a pleading look. "Sandburg, this morning you tell me not to worry because she's acting normal. Now you're telling me you aren't so sure? Besides that, she broke a promise." Jim loosened his arms long enough to point at himself. "To me!"  
  
"We'll deal with that later, right now I need to get a hold of her. We can't just let this sit around unresolved."  
  
"Well I'm certainly not flying either one of you to California!" Simon interrupted. "And I still want an explanation of just what happened now that you think the room is safe!" He replied sarcastically, making a point to look at Jim. Ellison heaved a sigh and scowled.  
  
"What happened put a dent into my VISA card." Jim replied sourly. Blair sighed, rolling his eyes. Jim caught it. Simon groaned, Jim was avoiding something.  
  
"You owe me big time on that one, Sandburg. I still haven't eaten!"  
  
"Would you please explain what happened." Simon reiterated.  
  
"Me?" Blair exclaimed. "Why the hell should I have to pay for it? You were the one ordering Porterhouse like it was a .99 cheeseburger at Burger Thing! I wasn't the one who called Achille anyway. If anything, Sam owes you. She's soon to be making a good, round, five figure, salary. She can buy you a dinner."  
  
"She's your cousin!" Jim snapped.  
  
"Gentlemen." Simon droned.  
  
"That don't mean shit!" Blair reared back, defiant.  
  
"Gentlemen!" Simon roared. Both stopped and looked at him. Simon smiled like a father who was just about over his limit.  
  
"Ellison. Please explain what happened?" He said, then he looked at Blair. "You? Shut up, for just a few minutes." Blair's mouth started to open, then he snapped it shut and nodded. He drew in a deep breath and moved out of Jim's way.  
  
"All right." Jim replied. He was still standing, arms folded, tense as a cat. He looked once at Blair then fixed his eyes on Simon.  
  
"We were just getting ready to eat lunch when Samantha made off with his phone." He nodded towards Blair. "Legault called here, earlier this morning, looking for her."  
  
"Here?!" Simon asked. Jim looked at him impatiently. Simon raised his hands, siting back in his chair while Blair wandered over to the window, looking outside. However, his mind was going on overdrive. "Go on," Simon grumbled. Jim smiled acerbically.  
  
"She was talking to Legault when he told her about Blair's news conference. Apparently Legault went through something similar a few years back." Jim's tone changed subtly, more serious. "Samantha knew nothing about it. Just that he had switched careers. What she heard shocked her to the point where she told Legault that I am what I am." Jim paused, his eyes growing thoughtful a moment. He drew a breath, slowly let it out as the event replayed itself in his mind. He shrugged.  
  
"It caught her pretty well off guard. When we went to go talk to her, she took her anger out on him." He nodded towards Blair. "Sandburg went after to her to talk to her about it, and I went to talk to Legault." Simon glanced towards Blair, who was looking distantly at the armrest of the couch in Simon's office, one hand on the back of his neck, the other resting on his hip.  
  
"Sandburg?" Simon asked. Blair blinked, raised a questioning eyebrow and looked towards Simon.  
  
"She was pretty mad." He said softly. "Well, pissed off, really. Chewed me a new one right there in the restaurant." Blair heaved a sigh. "I didn't think she'd be able to handle how I became a cop. I mean with the stuff in Canada happening, her injuries and exhaustion, her boat, hell her home really, being in dry-dock." Blair shook his head sadly. "Plus she lost the slip space this morning and there's no telling now when the repairs to the Sundogs will be finished. She had gotten some bad news on that this morning too." He looked at Jim, regret in his eyes.  
  
"I didn't think she could handle any more bad news. She's already having a hard time adjusting to the differences in me." He shrugged, gazing apologetically at Jim. "I wasn't thinking about how she would react. I didn't think she'd get so mad. I was just trying to protect her a little, you know?"  
  
Jim closed his eyes, dropped his head and sighed, his shoulders drooping.  
  
"Shit." he breathed softly, looking at something far out the office windows.  
  
"People will do that for their families." Simon replied. He heaved a sigh also.  
  
"What happened after that?" He asked looking at Jim.  
  
"Sandburg took off after Samantha, I went to the Aquarium to talk to Legault." Jim folded his arms and looked at Simon. That was the end of the matter. Simon looked exasperated.  
  
"Details, Jim," he said patiently. "I've got to be able to cover your ass when the uppity ups begin asking questions."  
  
"Nothing really happened." Jim shrugged, finally dropping into a chair. "I asked him about Samantha. And he started asking me about him." He nodded at Blair. "The guys an old fox, ex-military. Used to be in the Canadian Navy. He managed to twist the entire issue around to a personal matter." Jim looked disgusted and leaned forward, reaching into his back pocket for his itching wire. "That's when I warned him I could turn his records into a nightmare."  
  
"That's just great!" Simon growled, watching Jim look at his crumpled wire oddly. The Detective began pulling it back into shape.  
  
"What prompted that?" Blair asked turning to lean back against the armrest of the couch, folding his arms. Jim glanced at him, almost warningly, then began wiggling the wire back down inside his cast.  
  
"Something I saw on his desk." He said flatly. Blair raised an eyebrow  
  
"As in." Simon waved a hand at them both. Jim shook his head no, then let out a sigh of relief. He looked at Blair.  
  
"I had a talk with Jack, after I left the Aquarium." Blair frowned a little.  
  
"Jack?" He asked, then his eyes brightened. "Oh, Jack."  
  
"Jack who?" Simon asked.  
  
"Friend of mine." Blair said, looking at Jim. "Where I used to work." Simon caught the message.  
  
"You mean to tell me there's a deeper involvement in this?" Simon asked. Jim nodded.  
  
"And I'm beginning to think that fella we saw in the restaurant just before all this happened may be the connection." He said.  
  
"Oh crap." Blair hissed.  
  
"Jim.." Simon growled, looking exasperated.  
  
"Pure speculation on my part, Simon. There was a guy at the restaurant. Came in after we did and set off all my alarms. I could smell the gun oil from the piece he was carrying. And he smelled of spook. I couldn't confirm a thing. Didn't get a chance to."  
  
"But you think." Simon prompted. Jim shrugged still manipulating his wire deftly under his cast.  
  
"I couldn't tell you, Simon. I just had my suspicions about him when everything went to hell. Let's just say I won't be surprised if he is, judging from what our track record is like." He glanced at Simon as he nodded at Blair. Sandburg, snorted slightly, smirked and shook his head.  
  
"So what did Jack come up with?" Simon asked.  
  
"Got me a dossier on Legault and his activities over the past few years. Guy's a nut case. Thinks he's Dr. Doolittle. Got himself fired from Rainier about 6 years ago because of it. Since then he's been working on getting this Aquarium opened.  
  
"Thinks he's Dr. Doolittle?" Simon exclaimed. Jim sighed in disgust and looked at Blair.  
  
"Achille got fired from the University when he claimed he broke the language barrier with killer whales. It was all over the news here locally. Both of you should remember it. He claimed to be able to speak to them. When they went to go prove his findings out, the whale he had claimed to talk to had died, kidney failure, I think. That kind of thing is pretty common in Orca's. He tried his experiments on his other whale and it failed completely. He subsequently got fired from his position and lost his tenure at Rainier." Blair explained. Simon suddenly snapped his fingers and pointed at Blair.  
  
"I do remember that! He became a laughing stock in the newspapers. Claimed that his findings were still valid and that whales had different languages. Something about the whales being from different regions of the world."  
  
Blair smiled brilliantly at Simon, like a teacher finally seeing progress from a student.  
  
"Exactly. Ootik, the whale that died, was from Iceland. Sascha was from the BC coast. His theory is that they are two different languages. Kinda like Russian and say, something like, Chopec." He shrugged.  
  
"Why don't I remember any of this?" Jim asked.  
  
"That was about the time you were working with Pendergast on some heavy duty cases." Banks replied. Jim's eyes narrowed as he thought.  
  
"Anyway. Achille's never claimed failure about his findings. He's still convinced he can communicate with whales. He's trying to unravel how the Orcas in the Pacific Northwest region speak, since he's just got the one to work with now. Well, better make that two. They got that one crippled by that boat collision earlier this year." Blair finished.  
  
"And now you think there's another element involved?" Simon asked Jim carefully. Ellison had extracted his wire and was carefully putting it away. He looked at Simon and nodded slowly.  
  
"Damn." Simon muttered and glared at his wall, thinking. "And your cousin is in the thick of it."  
  
"I just know she doesn't realize any of this." Blair defended.  
  
"But you can't be certain." Jim replied flatly. Blair looked troubled and reluctantly bobbed his head yes.  
  
"I can't. That's just my instincts talking." Jim pursed his lips, looking at Blair with mistrust and doubt still etched into his features.  
  
"Let me start making inquiries on when her plane is due in." Simon spoke up. "Nobody will be expecting it, coming from me. In the meantime, I want both of you to stay away from Legault. He's got some mighty strong ties in the upper management and I don't want to be on the receiving end of any shit that comes rolling downhill if he decides to go through with his threat."  
  
Jim began to protest and started to rise from his chair. Simon held up a hand, stopping him. "I didn't say you couldn't follow up on some other ends.(UH, LEADS, MAYBE?)" He added. "However, no crime has been committed. This matter is not to take precedence over your other work.  
  
"I can live with that." Jim replied, standing up. All three knew what would get priority.  
  
"Sandburg. Keep trying to contact your cousin. Call Monterey, leave messages, do whatever. Both of you somehow keep me informed of what is going on. Just let me repeat. Do not approach Legault."  
  
"At this point, he won't want to talk to me anyway." Blair said, pushing himself upright from where he had been leaning on the couch. "I, uh, insulted his Aquarium."  
  
"You did what?" Jim asked, a smile of disbelief growing on his lips. Blair shrugged.  
  
"Told him his over-glorified fish tanks could go to hell."  
  
"You said that?" Simon asked. Blair shrugged.  
  
"I told you he seemed to be getting possessive of Sam. I told him what I thought about it."  
  
Jim suddenly chuckled, looking at his partner.  
  
"Would've loved to have heard that." He murmured.  
  
"Yeah well, Achille wasn't too pleased when I got done." Blair said. Simon began to chuckle, himself.  
  
"Oh, to be a fly on the wall." He commented. "Get out of here, both of you. I've got work I've got to do."  
  
Neither detective argued.  
  
Cascade Hilton, Executive Accommodations.  
  
Tim Rasmussen had been expecting one call on his voice-mail when he had returned to his room and settled down. He had that sixth sense that something wasn't quite right. A sense that had served him well his many years of service.  
  
Legault had called. Requesting dinner at the Olive Garden Restaurant in Cascade's beautiful waterfront district. Reservations were set for 8 O'clock. Rasmussen sighed in satisfaction. Legault was a cagey one. Somehow he was going to get Legault's secrets for the use of the military, within reasonable means of course. And if that didn't work? Rasmussen smiled. There was another message. He frowned.  
  
Things had been going routinely smooth. For that matter this particular assignment had been his break from the heavier duty stuff he was used to working; although Legault was proving to be a stubborn participant. He peeled off his jacket, revealing his service weapon in its shoulder holster, which he began to slip out of as he punched numbers to access his other message. He cradled the phone to his ear as he listened to the second message.  
  
"Inquiries being made as to your identity." A mechanical voice replied in his ear. Rasmussen looked alarmed. "A list of known operatives, foreign and domestic, is being forwarded to your PC." A dull click followed and the message was cut off. It didn't take Rasmussen long to set up his laptop.  
  
Within minutes he was watching a screen with pictures scrolling down it as he looked at who might have gotten a suspicion he was in the region. He did a double take at Jim Ellison, stopping the screen and gazing at the photo on his monitor.  
  
Retired Army Ranger, a Captain, a former operative, now a Detective in Cascade, Washington. Considered a hero for surviving 18 months alone in Peru after a chopper crash had killed his crew. Instrumental in bringing a former rogue operative named Brackett to justice in the daring attempt to steal a top-secret aircraft. There was a list of other accomplishments. Rasmussen's eyes narrowed. He was also the guy he had seen in the restaurant earlier in the day before some sort of brouhaha had occurred with their female guest. He was a definite possibility. He continued to scroll, pausing briefly at two others before running across Jack Kelso's photo.  
  
He studied up on the man a moment then scowled and continued on. A whistleblower turned teacher at the local University on political science and also paraplegic. He'd have no reason to be looking him up. Rasmussen went on. Only one other came up and he discarded that idea, knowing the man to be dead. He returned to Ellison's picture.  
  
What would the detective want to know about him for? He studied the face. He was most definitely the guy from the restaurant. Rasmussen's mind raced as he began shutting down his computer. As far as he knew, there was no reason for the detective to be interested in him. It could be Ellison was simply satisfying an instinctive response. The man was, after all, a former operative. That had to be it. Rasmussen rose, set the laptop aside and peeled the tie off from around his neck.  
  
So far as he knew, Ellison and Legault had no connection whatsoever. Still, it had proved to be more than wise to be cautious at all times. His life depended on it.  
  
  
  
Cascade Aquarium vicinity, three blocks south.  
  
Jim had sat forward, arms crossed over the steering wheel of his pickup, cast hand dangling off one side as he intently peered down the street. His left hand held a Wonderburger Gutbomb Deluxe partially wrapped in its foil. The smell of cheeseburger and fries pervaded the cab. It would have been overpowering if it hadn't been so hot out. Both windows were rolled down, allowing the soft evening breeze to drift through. Blair sat in his usual spot, slouched against the door, sighing in resignation as he jabbed the off button on his cell phone. He had polished off a salad, and was currently engaged in occasionally stealing a french-fry out of Jim's dinner, partially tipped out on the wrapper of a long gone Gutbomb. Jim had devoured it a few minutes earlier. Try as he might, Blair couldn't shake the image he had of a tyrannosaurus savagely gulping down his latest kill.  
  
"Damn," he muttered.  
  
"No luck?" Jim asked, not moving his eyes from the Aquarium entrance, which at that distance, only he could see.  
  
"None. Staff at Monterey aren't saying a thing, no matter what you tell them." Blair muttered sourly.  
  
"That's to be expected." Jim replied. "You sure you don't know what Legault is driving?"  
  
"No."  
  
Jim frowned and glanced at his partner. Blair was gazing at something out the windshield, absently sipping a bottle of water he had gotten at the restaurant.  
  
"So what did you see on Achille's desk?" Blair asked, raising an eyebrow and looking towards Jim. Their drive to the current location had been pretty much quiet, except for Blair manning the cell phone, trying to get a location on where his cousin might be staying in Monterey. Blair hadn't said a word except for when Jim had driven through the drive-up and that was only to order. Jim breathed in, slowly pushing himself back against the seat, never taking his eyes from his objective. He draped his good arm out the window, tugged his Jags cap into a strategic position, and continued his intense scrutiny of the guard shack at the Aquarium, occasionally taking a bite from his burger. Noticing the tomato threatening escape, he carefully poked it back into the bun with his bum fingers. Licking the mustard off his fingers, he glanced around in search of a napkin. The corner of his mouth tugged downwards in a frown.  
  
"I mean, you heavily implied that our mystery man at the restaurant might be involved and there is no reason for you to be seeking Jack's help on this thing. So it had to be important."  
  
"It was." Jim replied, crumpling his fingers into a napkin then resuming his glare towards the Aquarium. Blair sighed.  
  
"C'mon, man. Am I supposed to be your partner? Or are you still majorly pissed off at me?" For a few brief seconds Jim shifted his gaze to Sandburg, then he sighed and continued his observations. Another ravenous bite disappeared from the burger.  
  
"He had a letter from the American Association of Oceanographic Research on his desk explaining how to get access to the funds they've granted to the Aquarium." Jim replied, once he had swallowed. Blair looked a little puzzled and relieved at the same time.  
  
"And?" he prompted, snitching another fry. The salt tasted good.  
  
"I recognized them from my Army days."  
  
"Covert Ops. " Blair stated. Jim nodded. Blair watched him studying the gate that he could hardly make out, it was so far down the road. Jim was all hunter at the moment, tense, focused. another bite of Gutbomb. Blair shuddered.  
  
"And that's why you went to talk to Jack?"  
  
"Yeah." Jim replied. "AAOR is only in operation to get research for their use in making sure the U. S. remains the top naval power in the world. And they don't care how they get their information or how they use it."  
  
"And they want Achille's research on whales?" Blair asked. Jim looked at him, a little perturbed.  
  
"Apparently. Although I find the whole idea very hard to swallow."  
  
"It's possible." Blair started but stopped at the look Jim threw his way. He shrugged. He was obviously not in the mood for one of his rambling lectures.  
  
"Why would the AAOR bother with it?"  
  
"They will use anything." Jim said tolerantly. "They don't play fair either. They are in it for power and gain. Kelso's trying to run down the guy we saw in the restaurant and the name I spotted on the paper. My hunch tells me they are one and the same. I quit believing in coincidence when you showed up."  
  
Blair suddenly grinned. "It's karma, man, fate!"  
  
"Whatever." Jim replied. Blair chuckled. Jim looked back out the windshield as Blair stole a few more fries. Another bite disappeared from Wonderburger's ode to cholesterol.  
  
"What I want to know is what your cousin said to him." Jim muttered, wolfing down the last bite and mercilessly crushing the wrapper into a ball. Blair sighed, looking thoughtful for a moment as Jim looked for the empty bag to toss the wrapper in. He glanced at Blair, who held his peace; but there was no masking the concern coming from his dark blue eyes. Jim sighed, aiming for the bag and scoring.  
  
"I know she was mad at you, Chief. But she broke a promise. She messed up and she broke my trust." Which would not be easy to repair.  
  
"I know that." Blair replied, softly. "I've got no problem with that." Jim had returned to his scrutiny of the guard shack. Something in Blair's voice caused Jim to frown, he shot a sideways glance at his partner.  
  
"But you've got a problem with something." Jim said flatly. Blair shrugged.  
  
"Look man, what affects you affects me, including what Sam did. I know that she didn't do this intentionally, though. I'm almost certain, and I know you don't think so, that she's not aware of what she's done. She's just so damn vulnerable right now." Blair shook his head in frustration. "And the way Achille's acting about her really has me bothered."  
  
"What did Legault say to you?"  
  
"Sam asked him if she could stay at the research facility."  
  
"And?" Jim prompted.  
  
"Until her boat gets fixed." Blair added. Jim's brows furrowed, then he turned his gaze to Blair. Blair sighed and shrugged. "And he made the arrangements for her to do it," he sighed. "I've seen Sam mad before Jim, but not to this point. I didn't ever think she'd react like this. In the past when she'd get mad she'd throw me off the boat. I'd go stay with friends for a week or two then come back to the boat. She's never gotten up and left."  
  
"She doesn't exactly have the boat to throw you off of and she is staying with you this time." Jim pointed out, a little irritably. Blair shook his head.  
  
"I think there's something more. I just can't define it." Blair said, sounding unsure.  
  
"Look, Chief." Jim said, holding up his cast hand. "Maybe it's not such a bad idea." He turned his attention back to the Aquarium.  
  
"What? Leaving? Like this? I don't think so." Blair replied adamantly. Jim sighed, shifting his shoulders at a sudden uncomfortable itch in between his shoulder blades.  
  
"I've had time to watch her, Chief. She's uncomfortable in the loft. I don't have a problem with her being there, but maybe she has a problem being there. She's too quiet, I've said that all along. Sure, she's a good house guest, but even that can be a problem."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Jim drew in a breath, trying not to roll his eyes. "Sam tries too hard to be a perfect guest. You should see her when you're not there. She's a clam, Chief. She won't come out of the room, does everything possible to avoid me." He raised up a hand to stop Blair before he could speak. "I mean in a way not to bother me. She knows she's in someone else's home and is trying too hard not to disturb me. It's unnatural."  
  
"So you think she ought to go the research facilities? I've stayed there a couple of times, Jim. It's WWII era barracks, complete with cots and drafts. If the repairs to the Sundogs takes as long as expected it could be almost Spring before she can get it back. That's next year, Jim." Blair responded. Jim worked his jaw muscles, trying not to grind his teeth as he watched the gate.  
  
"Blair," he said patiently. "She does not have to leave." He looked at his partner. "But maybe she wants to? I know you're just trying to help her."  
  
"Ahh, hell," Blair heaved a sigh. "Of course I am and you know why, too. I'm just getting more worried."  
  
"Don't think for a minute though she and I aren't going to discuss what occurred in that restaurant. I can forgive an outburst, but I am damn well going to make sure it never happens again. Like you said, this affects both of us." Jim shifted in his seat, gesturing between the two of them with his bad hand. Glancing towards the gate, he absently reached down to get some fries. They were two thirds gone. He looked alarmed at the nearly empty carton.  
  
"Hey!" He shot a glare at the perpetrator. Blair grinned slyly, lifting his shoulders in an 'oh well' gesture.  
  
"The gate?" he said nodding towards the Aquarium, attempting to distract. Jim frowned in disgust and looked back at his objective. The timing couldn't have been better, for Blair. Jim suddenly went on alert, leaning forward, his fingers reaching for the ignition.  
  
"Someone getting ready to leave.." He said, watching intently. "It's him." Blair watched as a predatory grin slowly spread across Jim's face. "Honda Accord, Seattle Silver, 98 model." He keyed the truck into life. "Heading away from us. License numbers 703 HCJ. Got that?" He asked as he glanced over a shoulder, checking for traffic before pulling out into the street.  
  
"Got it." Blair said. A cell phone suddenly chirped to life. Jim scowled, reaching down to fumble at the one on his hip and finding himself encumbered by the cast.  
  
"Get it will ya?" He growled, focused intently on his prey. Blair snorted softly in laughter and reached across the seat to snag the cell off Jim's belt. He jabbed at a button, lifting it to his ear.  
  
"Ellison's Answering Service. He can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave. Oh Hi, Jack!" Blair greeted, seeing movement out of his peripheral vision. He twisted slightly, smacking Jim's cast out of the way, keeping the cell phone from his reach.  
  
"Watch what your doing, man!" He snapped, waving at the windshield.  
  
"Give me the phone, Sandburg." Jim growled.  
  
"You just do your thing." Blair responded then turned his attention to the phone. "How are you, Jack?" He asked. Jim glared at him, briefly, then sighed, resuming his long distance tailing of Achille Legault. Blair smiled slightly in triumph. "Jim wants to know what you've got." Blair looked at Jim for a long pause, as he listened to Kelso.  
  
"Your hunch was right. Rasmussen fits your description. He's a major operator for AAOR." He repeated. Jim smiled in feral satisfaction. "Use extreme caution."  
  
"Figure out a way to get that info from him." Jim muttered, watching and listening intently. "That Accord needs a tune up and some oil. It's got a valve rapping."  
  
"Hey Jack, we need to get the information you have, somehow." Blair said as he smiled in amusement at Jim. There were times when it was just downright fun to sit back and watch the guy work.  
  
  
  
SORAC, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Evening.  
  
Sam leaned heavily against the metal door, her head hanging. In bold letters behind her head were the words 'Isolation, No speaking beyond this point.' Sam had just broken that prime rule, with permission, of course. Disheveled hair covered her features as she heaved an enormous sigh and reached up to her ears to pull out a set of earplugs. Barely noticing the approach of footsteps, she glanced at her arms, which were now covered in a variety of nips and scratches. Behind the door she could hear the fussiness of a baby sea otter as it settled in for the night. Loud fussiness.  
  
"Congratulations, Mom!" A woman's voice said in warm sarcastic humor. Sam glanced up a tall, brunette with impish dark brown eyes. Dr. Meredith Healey, DVM was embroidered on a short sleeve denim shirt along with the logo of SORAC and the notation of 'Staff'. The woman looked at Samantha in alarm suddenly.  
  
"Good grief McClennen! Tony said you looked bad when you got off the plane tonight. You look like hell."  
  
"You know? I am getting so tired of hearing that from everyone." Sam said, slumping back against the door and stuffing the earplugs into a handy pocket. Meredith raised her hands placatingly.  
  
"Sorry, didn't mean to offend." The Vet switched tactics. "How was our first bonding session?" She smiled slightly taking in the scrapes on Sam's arms.  
  
"Exuberant, loud, rough, typical." Sam replied, looking back at the woman before her.  
  
"And?"  
  
"A screamer. Thinks she's starving to death still."  
  
"Should have seen her last week. She's doing well considering. Did she take?"  
  
"Oh yeah. Did all the classic baby moves when I piped up. She'll hear me for."  
  
"Miles now!" Both women chorused. Sam smiled slightly, a look so strange on the worn, gaunt features. Meredith shook her head.  
  
"Well I can't tell you how relieved I am that you came down for her. San Diego, Us, and Newport are stuffed full and we were getting to a point where someone had to take that ball of fur under their wing or we'd really have problems. Maybe now she'll settle."  
  
"Her coat still looks pretty dry."  
  
"We can up the fish oil in her formula..., she doesn't have any problem swimming. And for a blind little shit she's already had the tank engineers scrambling to fix the vent to the drain in the nursery tanks!" Meredith grinned. "Clik was a great excuse to get the funding for repairs seeing's we were gonna have a boarder for a while!"  
  
"Clikatat Bay, huh? Why didn't Alaska take her in?"  
  
"Alaska's in an uproar since Howard Ritter got arrested." Meredith eyed Sam.  
  
"He was your boss, too; what all happened, Sam? We keep hearing he's been arrested for murder, ransacking an archeological site, theft, all kinds of stuff. You were closest to him. What happened?" Sam shook her head, heaving a sigh.  
  
"I had quit before that all happened. Took the job in Cascade. Howard proved to be a bit of a handful when I got to Alaska." She smiled thinly, looking at her with hazel eyes. "The opportunity to start a new colony at Ninstints was too good to pass up though. I'm hearing good things, despite Alaska's population getting wiped out the past few years."  
  
For several seconds the two talked 'shop' much to Sam's relief at diverting the topic to something else. Anything, other than Canada, Alaska, or Cascade. Noting that things had quieted down behind her, Sam shoved away from the door and looked cautiously through the observation window.  
  
Inside the room, a smallish yellow-white ball of fur with blue blind eyes was burrowing and tucking herself into a huge green towel. Standard practice was to get the new arrivals attached to a towel other than getting attached to a human being and risking the chances of rehabilitation. Clikatat was an exception to the rule. Sam had been allowed to talk in the creature's presence also taking away the isolation curtains to prevent otters from seeing too many humans. Sam had agreed to giving the blind pup a surrogate mother as she would never be able to go back to the wild again. Chewing hard on the corner of the towel, Clik had rolled onto her back and chewed until her odd blue eyes drooped lazily. In seconds she was sleeping the sleep of the dead.  
  
"You're in for a wild ride!" Meredith grinned.  
  
"She can't be half as bad as Nookie was." Sam groaned.  
  
"Nooksack? Have you seen that overgrown hairball?" Meredith asked. "He's turned into a class A clown. We're going to miss him around here." Meredith smiled. Sam snorted softly.  
  
"Three legs or no, nothing can stop that ham." Sam remarked. "They have them in the reserve tanks for transport tomorrow, right?"  
  
"All three." Meredith confirmed. "Plus that one." She nodded at Clik. Sam looked thoughtful as she began walking down the hallway. Meredith fell in alongside her.  
  
"I think, I need to pull a little rank." Sam said, glancing at the vet. Meredith frowned.  
  
"What for? What are you talking about?"  
  
"That one." Sam nodded her head back at the Isolation door. "Too much of a Screaming Mimi. I can't let her get on a cargo plane like that. She'd scream herself to death in the cargo hold. I'd like to make a coastal run. Here, Newport, Dabob Bay. In the seaplane. I think it will be safer on all the otters and especially that one. If I have any trouble, I can get the pilot to take us to one of the aquariums along the coast." Meredith pondered what Sam had said, then nodded her head.  
  
"Probably the smartest move. I kind of wondered if maybe that's what should be done. Glad you think so too. I can tell Tony tonight, to get the float plane ready. What are you going to do now? You look like you can use about three days worth of sleep."  
  
"Thought I'd check in on Nookie, and the others."  
  
"Ah hell, Sam! They're fine. Yakutat and Tillamook are inseparable, as always, and Nooks? Well, he's the king of leisure." She waved a hand, airily. Sam nodded, as a ghost of a smile touched her lips.  
  
"Haven't seen 'em in a couple of years now, Doc. I thought the baby had priority so I held off until now. It'll be good working with them again."  
  
"Oh well I suppose that's a good excuse." Meredith grinned then remembered something. "By the way. Someone named Blair Sandburg has been calling for you. Been driving the receptionist nuts. Says it's urgent and that you need to contact him ASAP. You know him?" She glanced at Sam and barely caught sight of the startled look in Sam's eyes.  
  
"Uh, yeah, he's my cousin."  
  
The vet frowned. "Something wrong?"  
  
"No, no.everything's fine." Sam said, smiling wanly at the other woman. Meredith looked a bit dubious. She reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a phone message note.  
  
"Here's the number he said to call. He told Brit that it was very important for you to get a hold of him." Sam chuckled dryly, she did a creditable imitation of Blair waving his hands in surrender.  
  
"My cousin, he gets so intense. He just wants to make sure I got here all right. I'll call him later." Sam bluffed.  
  
"Well if you think so." Meredith said doubtfully. Sam smiled thinly.  
  
"I think so." She didn't want to tell anyone about the enormous knot of fear in her stomach. Though she really deemed it necessary to make the trip back to Washington via the coast, despite adding an hour to the return trip, Sam also wanted to avoid arriving at Sea-Tac. Her cousin, and especially his partner, were two people she did not want to deal with at the moment. Going straight to Dabob Bay would circumvent having to meet with them, and besides.the otters had priority. Getting them safely settled would require all her focus and, at the moment, she didn't want to think about anything else.  
  
As she and the staff vet walked to the holding facilities for her three otters, she allowed herself to drift off into shop talk, part of her mind utterly detached from her current conversation. The other part of her mind faced a mountain of regret, fear, and a dreadful, familiar, aching, loneliness. How was she going to face Blair or Jim Ellison again? Sooner or later she knew she had to, but at the moment she was going to do whatever she could to hold it off as long as possible. As she caught sight of three otters rolling happily around in their holding tanks, her mind focused back on her work; her problems being shoved aside. She couldn't face dealing with them now.  
  
Bayshore Drive, Evening.  
  
  
  
Jim slowly eased the truck into a parking spot on the main street in the Marina district and leaned over towards his window, watching intently as a silver colored Honda Accord found its way into a parking spot at the Olive Garden Restaurant. They had trailed Legault to his home and were thinking he had settled for the night when he had emerged a while later, nattily dressed and happily whistling as he climbed back into his car. They had then trailed him, long distance of course, to the restaurant. Blair was just completing a second phone call to Kelso, with the change from previous plans, when Jim parked the truck.  
  
Blair glanced back over his shoulder, studying the street sign.  
  
"Jack's gonna meet me on the corner there in about 15 minutes. What time you got?"  
  
"10 to eight." Jim said watching Legault get out of his car and head for the restaurant. "I'm thinking this dinner is going to cinch a few things."  
  
"He could just be hungry." Blair replied. "And we'll be sitting here for another long, boring, stakeout." Jim shot him a sardonic look and reached up to adjust his Jag's cap. The summer day was winding down to a close. The sun sank lower to the horizon with the promise of a beautiful sunset and a bit of relief from the 80+ temperatures of the day. People were still out in droves, enjoying the spectacular beauty that a city perched between the mountains and the sea could afford. The Bay was full of evening boaters and for a brief second, Jim thought about Sam. He frowned a little in thought, resting his broken wrist on the top of the steering wheel and leaning back more comfortably into his seat.  
  
"Are you thinking that Achille's gonna meet up with the AAOR rep?"  
  
"It's logical. If it's that guy we saw at lunch, he won't want to waste a whole lot of time. Two things can happen here. Either the guy is going to offer Legault a price he can't refuse for his secrets. Or Legault will try to bargain to keep his secrets and use me as the bait, depending on whether or not your cousin said anything to him." Jim couldn't help but see Blair flinch at his remark. "And judging from what we know about Legault already, the guy has his own plans. Even Kelso said as much."  
  
"I'm not gonna argue with you there. He was totally different from how I remember him when we talked this afternoon."  
  
"Besides not letting you talk to Sam what else did he say?" Jim asked, cautiously nudging his hearing up, trying to locate Achille amongst the other patrons in the restaurant. Jim was filtering and enhancing sounds in ways he never dreamed of. Largely due to the person sitting next to him in the truck.  
  
"He was mostly just babbling on about his Aquarium and how great he thinks it's going to be. I told him he could stuff his Aquarium where the sun don't shine." Blair muttered. Jim blinked and looked at Blair in surprise.  
  
"You really did?" he asked starting to smile in amusement. Blair shook his head.  
  
"It was sick, Jim. All he could go on about was how great he thinks the place will be and Sam's role in it. He wasn't the least bit concerned about her. All he cared about was the Aquarium. Well, that and trying to find out from me what he could about you." Blair glanced at his partner and shrugged.  
  
"That's about the time I told him to stuff it. He didn't care one iota about Sam or how she's acting."  
  
"What was he asking about in regards to me?" Jim asked, focusing his attention back on the restaurant.  
  
"Mostly about the press conference. I told him he was a fool for falling for the media bullshit. It left him in a lot of doubt, that I am sure of. Plus the fact that what Sam said to him was in the heat of an argument and that she's acting very unstable. " Blair said with certainty, his hands emphasizing the point. Jim nodded, hearing it in Blair's voice. Blair went silent, thinking. Jim glanced at him, seeing the worry on his features.  
  
"You think maybe Sam is unstable?" Jim asked. Blair heaved a sigh.  
  
"This morning? No. Now? I don't know. If there is one thing Mom taught her, it was never to run and hide from your problems. Sam hasn't in the past. It's what got her through school, through the emancipation trial, through the deaths. It's what got her through that garbage up there in Canada." Blair pointed out. "You saw how she was. She was flat determined to see that Ritter was caught, even in the face of him appearing to be dead. Look how she was when the Sundogs got rammed. You had to hang onto her to keep her from getting back on the boat."  
  
"So why would she be running now? It's obviously not in her character." Jim pointed out, mulling Blair's words over.  
  
"Overload, maybe." Blair shrugged again. "The Denali explosion, her exhaustion, the Sundogs being out of commission, the changes in me."  
  
"The changes in you have been for the better though, Chief." Jim replied. "Why would that affect her?"  
  
"For you it's been a gradual change, easy to adjust with. For her it's sudden." Blair replied simply. Jim pursed his lips thoughtfully.  
  
"True. You think, if Simon agrees, maybe Sam should see the department shrink? She refuses to deal with the trauma that explosion caused."  
  
"Sam refused to deal with the death of her own family, Jim. Most of all her sister."  
  
"Then maybe we should talk her into seeing him." Jim said. Blair glanced at him.  
  
"We?" he asked. Jim heaved a sigh.  
  
"Look, she's." Jim paused, uncertain. "She screwed up, and this is the result." Jim indicated their present circumstance with his bad hand. "It doesn't mean though, that I'm not concerned. I swear the girl is disintegrating before our eyes and you're finally beginning to see it. You haven't before, because you are too close. You're her only immediate family and you naturally want to look out for her."  
  
"Jim Ellison, psychologist?" Blair grinned, looking at him. "That was a stretch man, hope it didn't hurt too much."  
  
"Sandburg.." Jim growled. Blair shook his head.  
  
"I'm impressed man. Really, I am! And you know what's really scary?" Blair asked. Jim glanced at him warily. Blair smiled at him.  
  
"You're right."  
  
"You know, that's twice today you've admitted I'm right.I'm getting a little suspicious here." Jim growled. Blair held his hands up as if in surrender.  
  
"I am not going to the department shrink!" he declared. Jim just smiled a wry smile which quickly went feral with satisfaction.  
  
"There he is." He murmured.  
  
"Who?" Blair asked.  
  
"Legault, I just pegged him inside the restaurant. He's still whistling that damn tune he left the house with."  
  
"Did you get the rest of the noises filtered out?" Blair asked. Jim nodded.  
  
"All except him and you, and a few other things."  
  
1.3.1  
  
1.3.2 "Great! Your fine-tuning is working out really well."  
  
"No tests." Jim growled. "We're beyond that.way beyond that!"  
  
"Aw c'mon, Jim, for old times sake." Blair joked.  
  
"Forget it, Chief. Listen, head on over to the corner and meet with Jack, and take that with you." Jim said pointing at the Wonderburger sack turned garbage can.  
  
"Yes, dear." Blair grumbled good-naturedly. Undoing his seatbelt, he popped the door open, grabbed the sack and climbed out of the truck. "Keep an ear out for me."  
  
Jim smirked, like he wouldn't? He readjusted his rearview mirror, keeping his eyes on his partner as Blair dumped the sack, then deliberately jaywalked to get across the street. He scowled, shaking his head at him, seeing that a car coming from the opposite corner had to tap on his brakes to miss him. Blair just glanced his way, smiled and headed for the corner to meet up with Kelso. Sighing, Jim settled back in his seat. Things were right with him and Blair; that, at least, was on an even keel. His cousin, however, and their present situation was another story.  
  
Rasmussen braked slightly as a pedestrian scooted out of his way, making the curb. Distracted momentarily, he glanced at the individual and frowned as he made his way past a long line of cars and trucks to the Olive Garden. He looked familiar. Not quite 5'8", short dark curls, burly, strong build, despite appearing to the contrary, someone to watch for as they would, no doubt, have unexpected strength. Where had he seen him? Immediately his brain went into overdrive trying to place the face of the stranger as he found a parking spot and prepared for his meeting with Legault. Puzzling over that, he never saw Jim.  
  
As he prepared for what would be a dinner in subtle negotiations, Rasmussen's mind also toyed over the stranger. He was important, for some strange reason. His head refused to let go of the man's face. As he smiled congenially at Legault, waiting for him at a table, he let one part of his mind track down the how's and why's of the stranger while he settled himself for the dinner to come.  
  
  
  
Jim's gaze flicked to the mirror. He'd been seated there for nearly half an hour now, listening to some incredibly boring talk about seals and Aquariums from Legault and his companion. Neither one was prepared to discuss things more serious, yet. Jim smiled to himself, though. The man Legault talked to had been identified by Legault himself, by his penchant for referring to people either formally or as 'mon ami.'" Jim had heard Legault call him 'Mr. Rasmussen' several times now. That and Rasmussen's voice had joined the listing under the 'rolodex' in his head. He'd never forget the man's voice. He squinted his eyes slightly, looking at Blair.  
  
Kelso had arrived and managed to park at the corner and Sandburg, seeing the opportunity, had promptly joined his friend in the car. Both were catching up. Blair would look over at Jim, making sure he was in visible range and knowing Jim would be listening in on his conversation with Jack. Jim smirked, refocusing his hearing on Legault and Rasmussen. Kelso and Blair had started to talk about Samantha, their tones growing serious. Jim thought he'd better concentrate on his targets.  
  
  
  
"So you see, with the addition of Dr. Hirai to the roster, in charge of the larger marine mammals, my staff is complete. We'll soon have the most comprehensive and elite group of Marine Biologists and Zoologists in the world working to make Cascade Aquarium the best on earth!"  
  
"That is quite an accomplishment, gaining Dr. Hirai. I hear her work is first rate. Though I am puzzled at your selection for Marine Rehabilitations."  
  
"Samantha McClennen? Ahh, mon ami! You do not know the girl's work! She is instrumental in setting up a prospering colony in a region of Canada's coastline where the Lutrines have been extinct for over 90 years. She's been key to helping reestablish the declining populations of the colony planted along the Olympic peninsula in 1962, and there is serious work underway for her involvement in helping to turn the decline of the Alaskan populations as well. But her ability to rehabilitate disabled creatures for the Aquariums of the world is par excellence! She is also my protégé."  
  
"You trained her?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Rasmussen, she came under my wing many years ago. She was a very young savant student at Rainier when I had my tenure there. She then spent several years working for SORAC at Monterey Bay Aquarium. The opportunity of planting a colony in an extinct region came up next. I consider it a coup that she agreed to come to work for me."  
  
"She never got her Doctorate?" Rasmussen asked. Achille chuckled.  
  
"I see you've studied up on my selections. That is astute of you. No, she never pursued her doctorate. She may later, at my urgings, but SORAC was an opportunity not to be missed. It is extremely difficult to gain a position on their staff."  
  
"So I understand. She must be valuable then." Rasmussen replied blandly.  
  
"She is at that, so long as she's not distracted." Achille murmured. Something in Legault's tone had changed. The game was about to roll.  
  
Jim smiled in anticipation.  
  
  
  
"There is a matter of some importance I wish to discuss with you, Mr. Rasmussen." Achille said carefully.  
  
"Oh? And that would be?"  
  
"I think, monsieur, it is time for us to quit dancing, and time to discuss our real purposes for this dinner."  
  
"Real purposes, Mr. Legault? I'm not quite sure I understand you."  
  
Legault chuckled. "Come now Mr. Rasmussen. I am old, but I am not stupid. You are attached to an organization that is reputed to have questionable contacts and I have information you want."  
  
A long pause followed and Jim almost barked out a sardonic laugh. He knew Legault had caught Rasmussen by surprise. Rasmussen, however, was a pro.  
  
"In that case Mr. Legault, yes, We are interested in your research on breaking the communications gap between man and Orca. It has been brought to our attention since your unfortunate release from your position at Rainier University. My superiors are very interested in helping you to continue the research and are willing to provide not only monetary assistance but also qualified individuals to help with the studies."  
  
"Oh ho, mon ami! No, no, no. I work with no one. I perform my own tests and field research. No one else is involved, unless I personally hand pick them and only if I completely trust them. I am grateful for your offer of assistance in regards to field labor but on that I must decline."  
  
"But you are interested in monetary help?" Rasmussen smoothly, quickly asked.  
  
"Quite possibly." Achille murmured. "Under a few conditions."  
  
"Conditions?" Rasmussen asked.  
  
"Oh yes, mon frere. There are always conditions in the games we play, are there not?"  
  
Another pause followed.  
  
"Of course. What would these conditions be?"  
  
"The most important condition would be that this research not be allowed to be used in ways that would be harmful to man or creature, nor be used for the subjection of others against their will. I will not be responsible for the overthrow of one nation's power to another. My research is very important, monsieur. Should man and beast be able to communicate, as say, you and I at this table, it should be that we communicate in the interests of peace and betterment, than for nefarious purposes. I will not even begin to negotiate with you if the research I have is to be used in ways I deem are wrong. Am I making myself clear, mon ami?"  
  
"Only too well, Mr. Legault." Rasmussen purred in satisfaction. "However, you said there was more than one condition?"  
  
"Ah yes, monsieur. It has come to my attention that you can provide services that may be useful to me. And I have need of them."  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
"Oh come now, Mr. Rasmussen. I know that you are not what you seem to be on the surface. There is far more to you than that."  
  
"What do you mean. Mr. Legault?"  
  
"I speak about my protégé, Miss McClennen."  
  
"A savant didn't you say?"  
  
"Oh yes, mon ami, my savant."  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"She is key to the success of my Small Marine Mammals program but there is a hindrance to her abilities that needs some attending to."  
  
"A hindrance?" Rasmussen asked carefully."  
  
"Something I am willing to give to AAOR. Something for them to contemplate as well as my research when I am assured of the use of that research."  
  
"I am not following you." Rasmussen lied.  
  
"Oh but you are. I am privy to some information about an individual whom I am sure AAOR, and most of the government organizations in this world, would gladly kill one another to get. I am prepared to tell you, mon frere, about this individual in exchange for the use of your, shall I say, skills?"  
  
"My skills? And how am I to believe what you are telling me?" Rasmussen asked.  
  
"You don't." Legault replied.  
  
"So why should I trust you?"  
  
"You want my research."  
  
Rasmussen laughed suddenly, a cold, respectful laugh. "I must admit you have me most interested, Mr. Legault. You want some of my services in exchange for information about someone extraordinary, on top of the use of your whale research?"  
  
"The use of my whale research on my conditions. Yes, mon ami. That is what I am saying."  
  
Rasmussen laughed again. "Just what is it you want?"  
  
  
  
When Blair returned to the truck, having let Jack drive away, he could see that Jim was listening very intently to whatever was going on in the restaurant. He cautiously opened the door, even though Jim, who's lips had flat-lined in anger, held up a hand to keep him from talking. The detective's eyes were glittering cold. He slid into his seat, setting the file Jack had given him in between them, leaving the door open. Now, full twilight out, the outside temps had dropped to an invigorating level. He settled back, looking at Jim and waiting patiently. Knowing something would give in a very short while.  
  
  
  
Jim could hear the rustle of stiff paper against fabric and guessed that Legault was withdrawing something from his pocket. He had clenched down hard on his jaw, waiting for the inevitable sell out he had been expecting ever since Sam McClennen had blurted his secret out to the wrong man. He should never have trusted her. Anger and frustration were colliding inside him as he listened in on Legault preparing to sell him for his own purposes like a merchant selling his wares. His ire at Blair for neglecting to tell the girl had burst back and he was waiting for the opportunity to dress him down again for it when he heard something so unexpected that he was left utterly shocked.  
  
  
  
"This monsieur, is a photograph taken some years ago at the graduation of my protégé with her Masters Degree. The people in the photo are myself, Miss McClennen and her cousin Blair Sandburg."  
  
  
  
In the truck Jim suddenly frowned in confusion, which a watching Blair couldn't help but notice. Jim's jaw began to drop open as he concentrated harder on the conversation, his left hand reached out to grip the door mount frame of his rear view mirror, to ground himself. Instinctively Blair reached over and grabbed Jim's upper arm.  
  
  
  
"He looks familiar." Rasmussen murmured.  
  
"Does he now? Picture him without the long hair." Legault said.  
  
"Hmmm," Rasmussen mused. "Why are you showing me this photo, Mr. Legault?"  
  
"Mr. Sandburg has proven to be the hindrance in my protégé's work. It would be most advantageous not only to Miss McClennen, but also to myself, monsieur, if Mr. Sandburg were to, say." Achille purred. "Meet with an unfortunate accident."  
  
"An unfortunate accident?" Rasmussen asked carefully back.  
  
"One which Miss McClennen would know absolutely nothing about. It must, for her sake, appear to be utterly a tragic accident. She knows nothing about what we are discussing. And she is very fond of her cousin."  
  
"You want her cousin to meet a permanent end?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking."  
  
"She knows nothing about this?"  
  
"She isn't even in the State at the moment, monsieur. She is not involved, and I wish to keep her that way."  
  
"So you would like this Mr. Sandburg out of the way."  
  
"Terminally, if you will."  
  
"In exchange for the whale research under your conditions and the information on a special individual? That's highly irregular, Mr. Legault."  
  
"If you should perform what it is I am asking, I will gladly tell you more about this individual. But, Mr. Sandburg must not be, first."  
  
There followed a very long pause, then Rasmussen casually replied.  
  
"I don't see why I couldn't arrange to do something."  
  
Outside the world suddenly erupted.  
  
The sudden sheer rage that emanated from Jim was so strong, Blair literally felt it, jerking his hand off Jim's arm and looking at him in shock. He was also trying to get out of the truck so fast he fumbled badly at the latch and growled when he hit it with his shoulder and it didn't budge.  
  
"Hey!" Blair snapped, when the detective finally shoved the door open. Jim stumbled out onto the road, his hat getting knocked back into the truck. Blair scrambled, grateful that his door was still open. Jim didn't bother with his door, just leaving it hanging open and starting to make rapid strides towards the restaurant.  
  
"Jim!" Blair snapped, running around to block the man's progress.  
  
"Outta my way!" Jim growled, dodging around Blair and continuing his stalk towards the restaurant. The look of utter fury on the detective's face was such as Blair could only remember seeing once in his life. Blair spun after him, getting in his path.  
  
"No way!" Blair said and purposely grabbed Jim's arms.  
  
"I said get out of my way!" Jim shouted and, due to his cast, awkwardly grabbed Blair by the arms and tried to shove him aside.  
  
"No! Not until you tell me what you heard!" Blair yelled back, bracing his feet and not letting go of Jim. Jim snarled, easily breaking Blair's hold on his arm, he brushed past him, continuing his course. Blair turned, grabbing Jim by his arm, trying to pull him off the road.  
  
"Back off, Sandburg!" Jim snapped, wrenching his arm savagely from Blair's grip.  
  
"No!" Blair snapped, grabbing him again, this time he managed to jerk Jim towards the sidewalk, scrambling around him. Blair planted himself in front of the man, slapped a hand on his chest and raised the other, trying to stop him.  
  
"Tell me what you heard!"  
  
"Get the hell outta my way!" Jim snarled savagely, grabbing Blair by the arms and getting ready to shove him aside again. This time Blair wasn't going to be moved. Moving fast, he brought his own arms up and broke Jim's hold. He shoved both hands into Jim's chest, actually causing the man to back up a step.  
  
"Jim! Don't do this! Tell me what you heard!" He could feel Jim getting ready to unleash something. Jim suddenly had him by the arms again and Blair shifted, locking his fingers around Jim's arms, too. Tenacious as a bull terrier, Blair was determined not to let go.  
  
"I said get out of my way! Get the hell in the truck and stay there!"  
  
"No way!" Blair yelled back, losing his temper. "I am not falling for that old shit! I'm your partner damn it! Not an observer! I want to know what the hell you heard in there!"  
  
Jim jerked his arms free, grabbing a fist full of Blair's shirtsleeve. He tried to drag the unbudging Sandburg around behind him. He jabbed his cast hand towards the restaurant, pointing at it.  
  
"That son of bitch just put a hit out on you!"  
  
Blair looked at his enraged partner in shock, giving Jim the opportunity to try dodging around him again. Blair moved fast, blocking the way.  
  
"And what the hell do you think you're going to do? Barge in there and arrest them? On what grounds, Jim?" He grabbed two fistfuls of Jim's shirt and started shoving him hard backwards.  
  
"Right now it would be his word against yours! And who would believe you if you told them you heard him talking from two blocks down the street?"  
  
"I'm not gonna let that son of a bitch get away with it! You're my partner, damn it!" Jim yelled in anger.  
  
"Then act like it! Get hold of yourself! What are you gonna do? Go barging in there with threatenings and slaughter? They'd arrest you, man! And don't think for a minute that I'd bail you out of the slammer!"  
  
"Sandburg! It's illegal and it's you they're talking about! That guy wants you dead!"  
  
"I don't give a crap about him, Jim! Just get a grip, man, will you? You can't do this!"  
  
"I'm not about to let that son of a bitch get away with this!" Jim snarled preparing to remove his partner from in front of him. Blair braced himself, pointing a finger at Jim's face. He grabbed Jim just above his cast, sinking his fingers hard into the flesh.  
  
"No way, man! No way!" Blair snapped adamantly, his dark blue eyes blazing their own fury and locking onto Jim's own.  
  
"Get the hell back into the truck, Jim! Now!"  
  
"I haven't got time to argue with you about this." Jim growled and tried to jerk his arm free. Blair's grip tightened.  
  
"You are not going in there, Jim!" For a few brief seconds both men struggled.  
  
"Sandburg, so help me, I'll break something!" Jim shouted.  
  
"Then do it!" Blair exploded back. "Do whatever you damn well want, but you are not going into that Restaurant! Look at you, man! You're nearly uncontrollable!"  
  
"I'm not gonna let that son of a bitch threaten us!" Jim shouted pointing again at the restaurant.  
  
"Fine, man! But you're still not going in there! What we need to do is talk to Simon. Now get into the truck, Jim!" Jim tried one last time to dodge to around Blair, but he only encountered his partner blocking his way again, his face set and determined not to let the bigger man pass.  
  
"If you want a piece of them Jim, you're gonna have to take a piece of me!" Blair snapped, his words laced with certainty. "You are not going in there!"  
  
Jim grabbed Blair's arms, looking at him with such rage that Blair began to believe Jim would do just that. Jim saw the look that came into his partner's eyes, resignation, acceptance, determination. Blair was prepared to let Jim do whatever he wanted to him and equally determined that Jim was not going into the restaurant.  
  
While the two men argued, Legault's dinner concluded, and the two men parted ways. Legault never noticed the two men appearing to fight one another a block up from the restaurant. He turned away from them, deciding to head back to his Aquarium. Rasmussen however, having climbed into his car, had pulled out onto Bayshore Drive, going back the way he had come, feeling that strange thrill he always got at the unexpectedness that came with his job. He was mulling on that when his sight caught two men, one tall, one short, struggling with one another. The smaller actually getting the taller man turned around, pushing him back up the street while both heatedly argued.  
  
As Rasmussen drew closer, he began to frown. The shorter man looked like the pedestrian he had seen earlier that evening. As his car drew parallel with the two of them, he instantly recognized Blair just as Jim, who had been trying to turn around and head back the way he seemed set on going, suddenly stopped and looked at him directly.  
  
Jim fixed his glacial blue eyes on the face of the man he had seen in the Black Angus earlier that day, at the same moment that Rasmussen recognized Jim for who he was. Blair seeing Jim's attention fixed on the car, looked over also, his fists clenched into Jim's shirt, as he continued trying to shove Jim towards the truck. He frowned when he recognized the face.  
  
Rasmussen froze. Puzzle pieces began dropping neatly into place. The two on the sidewalk had been the two he had seen earlier in the day preparing to eat lunch. There had been an argument, their female companion. Rasmussen smiled coldly as his car slowly rolled forward.  
  
The girl in the photo.  
  
"You son of a bitch." Rasmussen snarled to himself. "You set me up, Legault!" Rasmussen glared at the taller of the two men, who was beginning to shove the other aside and head his way. Rasmussen's features changed to those of a cold, hard killer as Jim began advancing; Blair grabbed his arm. Ellison and this Sandburg had been dogging him all day. Of that Rasmussen was convinced. The only common denominator between them being here and them being at lunch had been Achille Legault and his so called protégé. As Rasmussen drew his conclusions he stomped on his accelerator.  
  
  
  
Simon's Home, Late Evening.  
  
"You should have let me go after him!" Jim was shouting.  
  
"And do what?!" Blair yelled back. "Get yourself arrested? Get yourself killed? Ruin another truck? No way, man!"  
  
Simon heaved a sigh. The two had been at it since arriving at his home about 90 minutes earlier. They had apparently been at it for some time. It also wasn't often that they deliberately showed up at his home, and even rarer that he had seen Blair driving Jim's truck. Simon drew in a deep breath. He hadn't been home 20 minutes and had walked outside to get his mail just as they had shown up, and it had gone downhill since then.  
  
Barely extracting the story from the two, Simon had gotten on the phone for them as they continued arguing. Well, enough was enough. Hanging up his phone Simon emerged from the den and headed into the living room.  
  
"Stop!" he bellowed. "I've heard enough!" Both men glared at him. Blair threw his hands into the air and stepped away from Jim, instantly backing down. Jim, on the other hand, drew himself up straight, every inch of him as menacing as he could get. Simon glared right back.  
  
"You, too!" he snapped at him. "Set it aside!" Simon saw movement and glanced at Blair who placed a hand on his hip, running his other hand through his hair in frustration.  
  
"All right, all right!" Blair snapped at him testily. Simon looked back at Jim.  
  
"Ellison!" he snapped. Jim glared at the both of them, then rocked back on his heels and folded his arms. Again, all the muscles straining at the tension. He ground his teeth.  
  
"This argument stops here." Simon demanded, looking between them both. He finally settled on Jim.  
  
"Listen to your partner, man! He's right! You can't go after them, you've got nothing to prove it! And that's an order, Ellison!" Simon threw all the weight he could behind his words.  
  
"And you," he looked at Blair and found he really couldn't fault him for anything except. "How the hell can you manage to get into so much damn trouble without even trying?!"  
  
"Me?!" Blair looked perplexed.  
  
"Listen to me, both of you." Simon, said letting his voice drop and making sure he had their attention.  
  
"I've put feelers out trying to locate Legault and this Rasmussen fella. It's a good thing Kelso was able to come up with a picture of the guy. All we can do at this point is set up watchers and see if they will try to go through on their threat. In the meantime, fighting with each other about it is accomplishing absolutely nothing!" He gave them one last glare.  
  
"C'mon Jim," he reasoned. "What good would it have done you if you had gone into the restaurant or gone after Rasmussen?" Jim had turned into an iceberg, his face reflecting his disgust at the entire situation.  
  
"I've got Rafe and Brown out trying to pinpoint Rasmussen and Joel has agreed to go in search of Legault." Simon reassured. "In the meantime, you two need to be working together, not against each other. For cryin' out loud Jim, Sandburg's your partner, and someone has threatened to kill him, where's that 'Protector mode' he's always joking about?"  
  
Jim looked at Simon, his eyes actually looking a little startled at his remark. An electric pause filled the air, then Jim sighed, running his good hand through his hair, and looking away from both men. Blair nearly sagged in relief.  
  
"You know damn good and well, Jim, we can't do anything until we have solid proof that Legault has ordered a hit on Blair. I know you heard it, but who's gonna believe it? Besides myself and him?" Simon nodded at Blair. "We have to have something more substantial. You know that!"  
  
"I know that." Jim muttered, feeling his guts twist up at the letdown from the adrenaline he'd been pumping.  
  
"Good!" Simon replied, smiling.  
  
"What are we going to about Sam?" Blair asked. Jim glared at him.  
  
"It's through her we're in this mess."  
  
"Jim, she knows nothing about this." Blair replied, waving a hand between them. "She has no idea that Achille's turned into a homicidal nutcase." Blair heaved a sigh and shook his head. "She's suddenly developed the worst luck in bosses lately!"  
  
"If she hadn't have opened her mouth," Jim started.  
  
"We've gone over that already, Jim!" Blair snapped irritably. "You can tear into her later about it, at the moment we've got to get her out of this mess!"  
  
"We?" Jim snapped back. "She put herself in his hands."  
  
"She doesn't know what he's become!" Blair shot back. "Today was the first time she's seen him in 6 years. He hired her over the phone when she was in Alaska, for cryin' out loud! She doesn't know about any of this and she's about to walk right into the whole mess."  
  
"Somehow we've got to warn her," Simon interjected.  
  
"That's going to be a problem." Blair said.  
  
"How so?" Simon asked.  
  
"She left Cascade, mad at me. What's the chances of her believing me when she gets back?"  
  
"What about Jim telling her?"  
  
"When Sam realizes that she broke her promise to him? I guarantee she's not gonna want to be anywhere near him. She's not gonna believe either one of us. If anything she'll defend Achille."  
  
"How can she." Jim started; Blair shook his head in despair.  
  
"Jim, she doesn't know what is going on here." He sounded almost pleading.  
  
"What if I can get the Monterey Police to get a message to her to call here? Maybe I can tell her? Think she'll listen to me?" Simon suggested. Both men looked at Simon.  
  
"Possibly." Blair mused, thinking hard. Simon glanced at Jim.  
  
"Well?"  
  
Jim pursed his lips in disgust, looking from his partner to his boss.  
  
"You wait until I get a hold of her."  
  
"Turn her over your knee and spank her if you have to, but do you think she'll listen to me?" Simon groaned.  
  
"That I don't know." Jim muttered.  
  
"It's worth a try."  
  
"Good, I'll call Monterey. In the meantime, both of you are staying here."  
  
"Huh?" Blair looked at Banks, startled.  
  
"I'm not letting you two out of my sight. You are not going to the loft, you are not going past Go, you are not collecting your $200.00. You are staying here. Much to my displeasure, as I was hoping to have my home to myself tonight." He waggled a finger between them like an irritated teacher.  
  
"I just know in the state he's in, he'll do something stupid! And you." He glared at Blair. "Maybe if I'm around, trouble won't come looking for you? That's it, it's decided, you're staying here and that is an order."  
  
"Simon."'Blair started.  
  
"That's Captain to you, Sandburg!"  
  
"Captain." Blair grumbled folding his own arms in disgust. He glanced at Jim, who shot him a sardonic look.  
  
"Now then, here's what I have in mind," Simon replied and smiled in triumph.  
  
1.4 Early Morning.  
  
Nobody slept. Except Simon, who managed to catch a few z's near dawn. Jim lay stretched out on the guestroom bed, while Sandburg had taken the couch. Both men were staring at the ceiling and lost in thought. Jim replayed the entire events of the evening over in his mind, again and again and again, gleaning whatever he could and knowing he had forgotten something. It was just at the tenaciously sweet point, when your mind is about to relinquish its hold and allow sleep to take over that it came to him. Jim sat up, rolling the point around in his head. He wasn't mistaken.  
  
Silent as a cat, he padded his way into the living room, white socks muffling his footsteps. It wasn't until he had crouched down next to Blair that Sandburg even realized he was next to him.  
  
Barely drifting along in a twilight sleep, Jim's sudden presence scared the crap out of him. He jerked back into the couch with a hiss of surprise.  
  
"Oh hell! Jim!" He started. Jim scowled, shushing him, trying not to wake Simon.  
  
"Shhh! Simon just dropped off to sleep."  
  
"I was just about there myself, man!" Blair growled at him; glaring up from where he was flattened against the couch cushions. "Man, you are enough to wake the dead sometimes!"  
  
"I remembered something, Chief." Jim hissed back, pinning him with his eyes. Blair looked at him uneasily.  
  
"What?" He asked cautiously.  
  
"Something Rasmussen said as he was pulling away from us last night." Jim replied. Blair was all attention. Jim smiled slightly at his partner's reaction.  
  
"Rasmussen thinks Legault set him up. He said it out loud when we all recognized each other." Jim pointed his bad finger back and forth between them.  
  
"You certain of that?" Blair asked. Jim just snorted in disgust and looked at Blair.  
  
"I have to ask, you were acting like an ass about that time." Blair replied.  
  
"Drop the sarcasm, Chief." Jim grumbled. "This means two things. Rasmussen's a pro, and he thinks he's been set up. That means he's going to try and get Legault's secrets, and he will try to kill Legault. It also means we've got another problem."  
  
"As if we don't have enough all ready?" Blair groaned mulling Jim's words over.  
  
"Rasmussen recognized us from the steakhouse. Legault also showed him your picture. Your cousin was in the Angus with us and she was also in the picture." Jim looked meaningfully at Blair. Blair stared back.  
  
"Shit." He breathed. "She's a sitting duck."  
  
"We have got to get a hold of her, not only to make sure she didn't say anything to Legault and keep him away from her, but also to make sure she doesn't get herself killed in the process." Jim said. Blair groaned.  
  
"Why do I feel like I am in a colossally bad game of hide and go seek?" He grumbled, scrubbing his face with his hands. "I've left messages all over Monterey, Simon has left them with the Monterey PD. Sam's not gonna call. Somehow we've got to meet her plane."  
  
"Simon hasn't been able to get a flight manifest out of Sea-Tac yet."  
  
"Maybe we should ask Jake Jacobsen?" Blair grumbled again. Jim paused, looking at Blair in consternation.  
  
"Why the hell didn't we think of that earlier?" Jim snapped.  
  
"Because the both of you were too busy running your mouths! Just like you are now." Simon growled sleepily from behind them. "Do you two ever sleep?" He groused, yawning.  
  
"Sorry, man." Blair apologized as Jim stood up.  
  
"Fill me in. I heard part of it." Simon replied, tying the sash around his bathrobe a little tighter. Jim heaved a sigh and did so.  
  
"So somehow we've got to convince Jacobsen to tell us when Samantha is coming into town, despite the fact we can't tell him a thing that is going on or that we haven't the slightest shred of evidence to prove anything we've said." Simon grumbled, when Jim had finished.  
  
"So we do the next best thing." Jim said and looked down at Blair, who hadn't moved from his position on the couch.  
  
"Which is?" Simon demanded. Blair grinned.  
  
"What else. we obfuscate!"  
  
Monterey Bay, shortly after sunrise.  
  
"Well, there you go, Sam." Meredith Healey said as the last of the animal carriers were loaded into the seaplane. This one being the smallest of all and specifically being set up near where Sam would be settled in. Sam, looking haggard, nodded and smiled wanly at the vet. Somewhere along the line she had bought a pair of jeans, rolled at the cuffs because they were too long, and an oversized Monterey Bay Staff sweatshirt, to which she hadn't bothered taking off her clipped-on Identification badges. She gripped Meredith's hands in hers.  
  
"You got me all the formula and extra food to keep them happy?" She asked, as the plane began its preflight warm up, blowing Sam's hair into her eyes. She pulled it away as the vet nodded.  
  
"It's all in the blue cooler, food for Click and munchies for the others but I doubt they'll eat. The few items in that red cooler are marked for each animal and has the right proportions of sedatives if you find it necessary to tranquilize them. If that's so, have the pilot stop at Newport and give yourself time to let them calm down long enough to eat it. Especially Clikatat, she's the only one who might be a problem. The others have done this before."  
  
"Okay Meredith!"  
  
"Have a safe trip and call us when you get to Dabob Bay. You better get going, the tide is going out!"  
  
"Will do." Sam replied and made her way to her seat. Already the small otter was letting it be known, vocally, that she was unhappy with her predicament. Sam belted in, then belted the carrier down, before grabbing a set of nearby headphones and settling them down on her ears.  
  
"You read me, Tony?" she asked, pulling the mike closer to her lips.  
  
"Nice and clear, McClennen. I can hear that one over the headset all ready."  
  
"I've got a Mickey I can slip her if it gets too bad. We'll have to sit in Newport Bay though, if that happens."  
  
"Understood, we can't risk 'em can we?"  
  
"You got that right."  
  
"How are the others?"  
  
Sam glanced over her shoulder to the three much larger carriers showing various signs of different activity from the three occupants.  
  
"Doin' fine, let's get out of here."  
  
"Throttling up as I speak." Tony replied as the pitch of the engine noise went up. Before too much longer, they were in the air and flying north. Sam had no idea what she was about to fly into. At the moment, the squealing and screams of 12 pounds of baby sea otter had her total attention as she began murmuring soothing words to the frightened little creature, and wondering who needed them more?  
  
Her instincts proved right. 45 minutes away from Newport Bay, Sam, watching the uncomfortable, and loud, Clikatat, finally made a decision. "Tony." She said pulling the mike back into place as she watched the small animal fret and squeal.  
  
"Readin' ya, Sam. You got problems?"  
  
"Looks like it, I think the baby is trying to hyperventilate."  
  
"I'll radio the on call vet at Newport."  
  
"Thank you Tony, I hate making this trip so difficult."  
  
"No problem. We're 45 minutes out of Newport, we'll set there for a spell. Give you and the vet time to assess the problem. How about the other three?" Sam glanced at the other containers. Two of the creatures had hunkered back into their cages, waiting the whole ride out while the third continually peered out, snuffling and squeaking loudly, terminally curious.  
  
"They're okay. It's the little one I'm worried about."  
  
"I can hear her in here."  
  
"I'm betting she can't regulate the pressure in her ears."  
  
"Fussing like a real baby." Tony joked.  
  
"Only this one can be heard for three miles!"  
  
"You handle things on your end, I'll get us to Newport. Once we can leave there? We'll be about a hop, skip, and a jump to Dabob Bay."  
  
"Gotcha." Sam peered in at the small creature, worry forming a small frown line between her eyes. She was relieved when she spotted the famous Newport Bay Bridge and shortly thereafter, Tony expertly glided the seaplane under it on his approach and touched down gentle as a butterfly. For the next hour or so, Sam's mind was completely removed from the problems facing her upon her return.  
  
  
  
1.5 Cascade, Early morning.  
  
Nancy Jacobsen was roused from her sleep by an urgent rapping at the front door. Snug against her husband she frowned muzzily and glanced at the bedroom clock. It was shortly after 7 in the morning. The insistent knock continued. Looking at her husband, she smirked. He was dead to the world. Heaving a sigh, Nancy rolled out of bed, found a bathrobe and stumbled her way out to the front room.  
  
Cautiously, she peered through viewer in the door. Two men stood on her porch, and behind them on the curb sat a car, steam wafting thinly in the cool morning air. She looked puzzled, glanced at the chain on the door then carefully opened it.  
  
"Yes?" She asked, studying the odd twosome on her porch. The smaller one smiled apologetically.  
  
"Mrs. Jacobsen?" he asked reaching behind him and pulling a wallet out of his back pocket. Blair flipped his ID open and held it up for her to read.  
  
"I'm Detective Sandburg, and this is Detective Ellison, is your husband home ma'am?"  
  
Nancy looked at Blair's ID in surprise then looked back at them.  
  
  
  
"Um, yeah he is, he's asleep." she started.  
  
"There's an urgent matter we need to discuss with him." Blair said.  
  
"Uh, sure, hang on let me wake him." She said and shut the door. Behind him, Blair heard Jim sigh.  
  
"Look, just let me do the talking.you just stand there and look menacing."  
  
"Well, I'm certainly glad to see where I stand in this partnership." Jim muttered dryly. Blair grinned, trying not to bounce on his toes. Jim rolled his eyes. Leave it to Sandburg to get jazzed about what they were doing.  
  
"When he comes to the door.."  
  
"He's going to recognize me." Jim said patiently.  
  
"I know, just follow my lead." Blair reassured. Jim smirked, looking away across the neighborhood.  
  
"Then you'd better get ready." Jim warned. The words were no sooner out of his mouth when they both heard the chain rattle, then the door opened.  
  
Looking owlish, with his dark hair ruffled, Jake Jacobsen, dressed only in his pajama bottoms, stared at the two men.  
  
"Jake!" Blair greeted. Jake looked at Blair.  
  
"Sandburg? What the hell." He glanced up at Jim, recognizing him.  
  
"Detective Ellison?"  
  
"Jake, we need to talk." Blair said soberly. Jake had woken up, and was now looking at the pair suspiciously.  
  
"What's this about? You guys realize it's 7 in the morning? If this is about Achille." he paused and eyed Jim. "Achille told me yesterday that you threatened him!"  
  
"Jake." Blair said patiently, feeling Jim bristle behind him. "This isn't about Achille.it's about Sam."  
  
"Sam?" He looked at Blair, frowning.  
  
"Has Sam told you about what happened to her in Canada?" Blair quickly asked. Jake frowned, thoroughly puzzled.  
  
"About some boat exploding?"  
  
"That's the one, listen, can we come in? I really need to talk to you." Jake paused, then decided to step outside, pulling the door shut behind him. The two detectives backed up allowing him room on the porch. Jake glanced towards the car on the street and could see a third person waiting for them.  
  
"What's this all about? Achille's convinced that you guys are trying to harass him about his funding." He looked dismayed at Blair, avoiding the ice blue eyes of the other man on his porch.  
  
"It's not about Achille, although we'd like to talk to him. This is about Sam."  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"We've got to find her. It's really important."  
  
"Why?" Jake shot back. Blair sighed and felt movement behind him, Jim had frowned slightly tipping his head unconsciously towards the car.  
  
"Sam's a key witness in a Crown case in British Columbia. She was allowed to come to Cascade on the grounds that she be available at all times for the Prosecution's case against Howard Ritter. They've been trying since yesterday to reach her, and I don't want to have to see her get extradited and detained across the border. It could have, like, major effects on her job here in Cascade." Blair said, slipping a finger under his ID card. He pulled a card out and handed it to Jake.  
  
"That's Inspector Cormiere's number in Vancouver, he's the lead investigator on the case and the one who is maintaining the contact with Sam. If you want to call him, be our guest. We just need to know when she's going to be back in town. I know Achille sent her to Monterey yesterday."  
  
"We also know she's not flying into Sea-Tac." Jim added, Blair glanced back at him, seeing Jim nod towards the car. Jake frowned, reading the card Blair handed to him.  
  
"That must have been one serious case." he muttered.  
  
"Oh, just some artifacts theft and smuggling, sabotage, bombing, and the murders of 5 people, not to mention the attempted murders of three others." Blair added. "Sam was the only witness and they are pretty concerned about where she is and why. We need to know when she'll be here, she has to contact Cormiere, ASAP."  
  
"Shit." Jake muttered, handing the card back to Blair. "They called in last night that she opted for the coast run, because of the new otter. She'll have left Monterey at dawn. She's not going into Sea-Tac, she's going straight to Dabob Bay by seaplane. Achille's meeting her over there to help with the transition."  
  
"Damn." Jim muttered. Blair scowled.  
  
"You're sure of this?""  
  
"Absolutely, I took the call. Look why wouldn't Sam just call you?" he asked and looked at Blair suspiciously. Blair cringed a little.  
  
"Between you and me? This little visit is unofficially official. Sam's living with me and we," Blair nodded at Jim, hooking a thumb back at him. "Just happen to be cops. Sam and I had an argument yesterday, she's like majorly pissed off, and she doesn't know that Cormiere and the Crown Solicitors are trying to get a hold of her. I know she's ignoring me, but this is really important. They'll extradite if we don't come up with her pronto."  
  
"Can they do that?" Jake asked dubiously.  
  
"Oh yeah." Blair said, looking round-eyed and serious. "The US consulate and the Canadian officials were all there at the case debriefing. Sam signed papers to the effect that if she didn't respond, Canada could come and get her, with our government's blessings. So you see? We really need to get a hold of her."  
  
"How do you know all this?" Jake exclaimed, looking confused and aggravated. Blair sighed.  
  
"I'm her only family, man. I was the one she contacted when this case went down and Jim, well, he's my partner. We went up to get her together and so we got to sit on all the proceedings. C'mon man, we need to get a hold of her or find out her ETA into Dabob Bay. I take it she's going to the research facilities there?"  
  
"Yeah." Jake grumbled, running a hand through his hair and looking at Cormiere's card, still in Blair's hand. "She's got four otters on board and one's a new pup. It's a difficult flight. Pups can't decompress their ears, kinda like babies. And a sea otter pup in pain is not a pretty or quiet sight. Say look, I don't mean to doubt you, Sandburg, but Achille was pretty upset with you two, yesterday. Is there any way I can verify this with your superior?"  
  
Behind them Jim smiled. "Just a minute." He said and strode off the porch. Jake looked startled as Blair shrugged helplessly.  
  
"As a matter of fact." he said smoothly, "My Captain is the one that drove us over here." Jake looked at Blair in surprise then up as Simon climbed out of the waiting car. Jim was saying something just out of range for them to understand then both turned and walked up to the porch.  
  
"I understand you have some reservations, Mr. Jacobsen?" Simon, at least two inches taller than Jim, stood up straight, balancing his fists on his hips.  
  
"Uh.yes sir I did," Jake swallowed taking in Simon's suit and wondering why he had bothered getting up that morning.  
  
"Well, I'm Simon Banks, Captain of Major Crime, Cascade PD." Simon fished his wallet out and showed the man his badge and police ID. "Miss McClennen is needed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on urgent business and they go through us when they can't contact her. Do you know how much I dislike having to have them go through me to contact someone else? Especially his cousin? I'm a busy man, Mr. Jacobsen, I've got no time for this."  
  
"Uh sure, no problem. Just let me get dressed and I'll head over to the Aquarium and find out when she's due in. Who can I call to tell?"  
  
Jake ended up with three cell numbers.  
  
  
  
Once safely in the car and driving away, Simon looked at Blair through the rear view mirror.  
  
"Sandburg! That's got to be the biggest line of bullshit I've heard out of you since dealing with Taggert's bombing fear!"  
  
"It worked didn't it?" Blair responded.  
  
"A truth misdirected." Jim grumbled unhappily.  
  
"More like seriously bent and twisted!" Simon snapped. He glowered at his back seat passenger.  
  
"Look, he was already suspicious, you saw that. Sam's experience in Canada just came in handy. And he told us where she's going. We just need to find out when, and how are we gonna get over to Dabob Bay?"  
  
"I'll handle getting over there, you." Simon looked pointedly at Blair. "Get a hold of the FAA and see if they've got a track on that seaplane. Jim, call Joel and see if maybe he's come up with something on Legault, then see if Henri and Rafe have anything on your supposed hit man."  
  
What had he learned, when in doubt, delegate? Simon suddenly wished he had one of his cigars. something to chomp down on. This whole affair was turning into more and more of a mess, and he didn't like the fact he was getting drawn further and further into it.  
  
Dabob Bay Research Facilities, Early Morning.  
  
There was something about the tang of sea air and evergreen forest that felt invigorating and relaxing to the soul. A calm, peaceful, stillness lingered in the air as the sun worked at burning off the early morning mists. Dabob Bay was shrouded in thin wisps, barely revealing the mouth of the bay at the juncture to Hood Canal. The slapping of the waves against the long pier, robins and chickadees and several other birds sang joyously at the arrival of the day. In the Canal, in accompanying undertone, the foghorns and ferrys sounded out to warn others to be careful in the morning mists.  
  
Achille Legault stood on the pier, waiting patiently, wrapped in a dark grey sweater to ward off the chill. Nearby, lodged on a spar, a Kingfisher suddenly let loose its rat-a-tat cry and dove towards a prospective meal. Achille glanced at it, and shivered. A thin icy finger was tracing its way down his spine. Try as he might, he could not shake the feeling of unease. Despite how much he loved mornings like this, he felt no peace in his heart. The sense of foreboding had been relentless and had caused him to miss several hours of sleep. He had decided after leaving the restaurant the night before to just come to the facilities. Already he had spent several hours with Sascha and Sitka, feeding the creatures and simply being in their calming presence.  
  
That morning Achille had made the arrangements to have the two big animals moved into the new tanks at Cascade within two weeks time. He smiled at that, he'd be much closer to them now. His smile vanished like the mists evaporating in the brightening sunlight. Somehow he knew he wouldn't be doing any more research on them. Frowning, his thoughts drifted back to his dinner last evening. He was reaching up, stroking his chin thoughtfully, when his ears caught the sounds of an approaching plane. A glance at his watch revealed the time to be 9:30 in the morning. Sam was behind schedule.  
  
  
  
Nearby, hidden in the surrounding forests around the facilities, Rasmussen smiled in satisfaction at Achille standing on the pier. Dressed in dark clothes, he had beached a small boat on the peninsula opposite the bay and hiked over to his present vantage point. He had determined, on his first visit to the place, that the only way to gain access to the facilities was to come in via the beach. Now he smiled coldly, lowering the slim binoculars, ever mindful of the weapon he carried. He could've taken Achille right there, as easy as child's play. But Rasmussen had decided not only to take out him, but to take out another as well. His decision to remove both was cemented by the fact that Cascade's finest had been looking for him since shortly after their dinner. Nobody else could possibly have known he had been there but Achille and his protégé. Rasmussen heard the approaching seaplane and settled back. He could wait for now.  
  
  
  
Several other people had joined Achille at the pier, a truck waiting to transport the three bigger otters to the holding tanks. Achille lent a hand in helping to secure the seaplane to the pier, then turned to open the doors.  
  
"Samantha!" he greeted, watching the girl struggle to get the belts undone around the small carrier near her. She had already wriggled out of her own, the headset cast aside and forgotten. Several of the men called out orders and climbed in, getting to the other carriers, now jostling with active creatures.  
  
"Achille!" Sam breathed in relief as the Director joined her and helped with the carrier. He peered inside at the uncomfortable little pup. Clik was backed into the corner, mouth open, tongue hanging and breathing hard.  
  
"You were delayed, ma cherie? What happened?"  
  
"Same old stuff," she said worriedly as she followed Achille out the plane. Gaining the dock she instantly looked around.  
  
"Where's Dr. Comstock? I want her checked out for dehydration!" Sam said worriedly. "She didn't fly well at all."  
  
"Right here!" A sandy haired man called out.  
  
"We had to stop in Newport for almost two hours," Sam rattled off to the vet who was peering inside the carrier. "She started hyperventilating, so I gave her the tranq formula Dr. Healey provided. That's why she's still a little a little woozy, but it only slowed her down a little."  
  
"Let's get her to the truck then, come on guys! We got to get this one calmed down some!" Comstock said, gingerly disengaging Sam's fingers from the carrier.  
  
"Let him take her, ma cherie!" Achille urged. "She'll be all right once they get some fluids in her."  
  
"I need to go with her!" Sam protested as the crew shuffled off towards the truck.  
  
"Let them do their work, cher! Come now! Relax! You're home safe." Sam looked at the older man, pleadingly. For a brief moment Achille saw the haggard look in Sam's eyes and face, and the worry plainly etched there. So many things were revealed in the girl's strange, multicolored eyes. For a split second Achille saw the years of pain and despair that had marked the girl's life. Too many deaths.  
  
"I need to go with her, Achille." Sam said urgently. Achille studied her a fraction of a second longer.  
  
"All right, Cherie. Go tend to your pup. I'll still be here. We're going to move the Orcas soon. I need to discuss some arrangements with you, so meet me at the Orca Tanks when you're done."  
  
Sam nodded, smiling lopsidedly, then turned and hurried after the workers taking all the creatures to the main buildings. Other than the pilot securing and shutting down his plane, Achille found himself alone on the pier again. He paused, feeling the chill finger again and looked around. He frowned, there was something about this day that felt so, final to him. He looked back up at the retreating figure of Sam McClennen.and shivered.  
  
  
  
Several miles east, Blair gripped his armrest and his seat belt and closed his eyes. Try as he might, he still despised heights. Simon had somehow secured the use of a helicopter and they were now lifting off and flying southwest over the waters fronting Cascade. The four people in the confined space of the cabin all wore headsets. Simon was ensconced in front with the pilot. It wasn't so much the heights, Blair repeated over and over in his mind, it was the actual lifting off. He knew he'd calm down once they got properly underway. Next to him, he knew Jim just viewed the whole ride as another means of transport. Jim practically thrived on this kind of thing.  
  
As the chopper settled into its flight, Blair finally opened his eyes and glanced at Jim, who was looking at him with a slightly amused looked on his face.  
  
"It isn't funny." He said under his breath. Jim only smirked at him, looking for all the world like a self-satisfied cat.  
  
"What was that, Sandburg?" Simon piped into his ear.  
  
"Nothing, Simon." Blair said louder, finally looking around.  
  
"Good." Simon shot back. "Tell us about this place again?"  
  
"Dabob Bay?"  
  
"No, Chicago!" Simon snapped. Blair cringed.  
  
"It's the main research facilities for Seattle and Pt. Defiance Aquariums. It's where they hold new and rehabilitated sea creatures for either release or exhibit. It's like a quarantine and settling area."  
  
"Can we land directly on the site?" Jim asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, it's a former military base. Lots of room. The Aquariums in the area use it for retreats for families and all, the place is crammed full of historic houses and WWII barracks."  
  
"Got to be connected to the Forts." Jim commented.  
  
"Casey, Ebey, Flagler and Worden." Blair replied, laying his head back into the seat and staring up at the ceiling. "And, more than likely, Bangor Submarine base too. The area all around there is deep and navigable. They built those forts at the turn of the 19th century to protect Puget Sound and Seattle from the Hudson Bay Company, the British and the Spaniards. Admiralty Inlet and Deception Pass are the only two routes into the area by sea."  
  
"Deception Pass is defendable all on its own." Jim commented, glancing at Blair, he was going into lecture mode, self defense against his fear of heights. Blair had his ways of coping with it.  
  
"Sam and I got stuck one time on the Sundogs trying to get to Seattle. Those tides going out there create some of the most dangerous sailing you can imagine. We had to let the tide carry us back out and wait until the next high tide. Sort of like taking one step forward and two steps back. Turned out there had been a misprint in the tide table and we hit it just wrong."  
  
"Sounds like your kind of luck. " Simon growled. "Can you raise the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office? I'd like to let them know I'm about to step into their jurisdiction." Simon asked the pilot.  
  
"Let me get you to a secure channel. We're gonna be skirting around Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, sir." The pilot informed "They're out doing practice runs this morning. You can tack about another twenty minutes to our destination."  
  
"Shit!" Jim hissed. "Rafe told us that Rasmussen slipped away from them early this morning, too."  
  
"According to what Jacobsen called in to us, Sam delayed her flight in anyhow, maybe we'll beat her there." Simon commented.  
  
"I hope so." Blair muttered, taking a cautious glance out the window. They were carefully skirting the region around Whidbey Island, mindful of the aircraft out on practice runs. They all could hear the pilot busily keeping up to date with the Military base as to his whereabouts.  
  
"Those forts have an amazing history behind them." Blair rambled. "You wouldn't believe what all is buried around Ft. Worden."  
  
"Buried?" Jim asked looking at him. Blair grinned up at the ceiling.  
  
"A train, man! They buried a train out there. They literally shifted several hundred thousand cubic yards of soil around to build that fort out there. Most of Port Townsend sits on it. And somewhere in the pile is a train."  
  
"Where do you come up with all this crap?" Simon barked trying to look back at him.  
  
"Oh." Blair waved a hand airily then reclaimed his grip on his seat belt. "Picked it up here and there in my wanderings."  
  
"You know, for someone who specialized in South American Cultures, you sure as hell know a lot about the Pacific Northwest." Simon grumbled.  
  
"I had to start somewhere, besides the history of this region is fascinating. And the different cultures? Nothing quite beats the different Coastal Indian societies and organizations out here. These people were a lot more civilized than what the history books tell us."  
  
"I've got you a secure channel sir." The pilot piped in to Simon.  
  
"I'm on it." Simon said and cut out. Jim glanced at Blair, still smirking at him. Blair frowned.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Keep going Darwin, we've still got several minutes of flight time here."  
  
"You don't have to remind me!" Blair grumbled.  
  
Jim smiled mercurially, casually folding his arms across his chest and patiently waiting the ride out.  
  
  
  
Dabob Bay  
  
  
  
Achille stood on the deck at one end of the Orca tank and watched the two whales slowly swimming around the great pool. His arms were folded across his chest and he frowned thoughtfully at the two Orcas, his thought's a million miles away. He couldn't shake a feeling a dread that was coursing through his veins, now. It made him feel cold. His ears caught the sounds of a helicopter and he idly wondered who was flying in from the different aquariums in the area. He heard the sounds of a door creaking open and he turned to see Samantha, tired and worn out, coming through it. He smiled slightly, feeling a strange sense of despair.  
  
"Ma cher?" he asked.  
  
"She's settling down." Sam flashed a brief smile at him and pulled her hair back off her face with one hand. "She was pretty dehydrated though. Comstock injected her with fluids and they've got her in the nursery tank now."  
  
"Ahhh, good. And the others?" he asked as she joined him on the deck, looking out at the two big whales.  
  
"Settling in well. I don't think anything can rattle Nookie's cage. Other then not feeding him on time."  
  
"A ravenous little swine, if I remember him correctly." Achille commented dryly. Sam smirked.  
  
"Wow." Sam commented looking at the two whales with interest. " I haven't seen Sascha in years."  
  
"She's doing quite well. Especially since our Sitka there joined her several months ago. I am planning on having them transferred to the new tanks the week after next. Their new pool will be three times larger than this place, and it even has it's own island!"  
  
"An Island?" Sam smiled, looking at him with interest.  
  
"With trees and shrubs, evoking a Native Northwest scene. It's even got a spar with the abandoned framework of an eagle's nest in it. Maybe you'll be able to entice one of the Skagit Bald Eagle Pairs to nest in it!" Achille winked at her. "You really must get familiar with the new place, cher. It is, after all, going to be your new place of employment."  
  
"Yeah, I need to do that." Sam took a breath and slowly let it out, watching Sascha slowly do her turn around the tank. "There's a lot I need to do."  
  
"There is a great deal of work ahead of us, Cherie." Achille said distantly. "The next few weeks are going to be crucial, with moving them into the new tanks and getting your otters settled into place. Dr. Hirai is also working on getting her seals and sea lions ready for relocation, too. It's a busy time for our Aquarium."  
  
"I should be able to catch a ride into Cascade on board the Wecoma in the mornings." Sam commented, her thoughts suddenly veering down another track. She frowned, catching the noise of a helicopter. "That is if Dick Thompson will let me stay here."  
  
"He was hesitant, but he said you can stay in 37 East. It's the only place available, I am afraid. The other Aquarium employees are using the rest of the barracks. It's the best we can do, Cherie." He said, watching her as she frowned, thinking hard.  
  
"Are you sure you want to move out of Blair's place?" Sam shot him a wary look and nodded.  
  
"I think it would be best." She said distractedly, listening to the sounds of a helicopter on final approach. Achille frowned..  
  
"Unusual for Seattle to fly in to this place. Something must be up with them, as they're the only ones who can afford direct flights in."  
  
"Might be interested in the otters.they do have the only successful breeding program around." Sam said. "Although the idea of Nookie being a daddy is scary!"  
  
Achille chuckled at her joke and looked at her. Her thoughts were turning her eyes dark.  
  
"I would hate, ma cher, to be the cause of unrest between you and your cousin, Samantha. Are you sure you want to stay here and not with him?" He asked carefully, his own eyes obscure. A sense of dread filled the air between them.  
  
"It's best Achille. There just isn't room for three at his place."  
  
"The Detective?" he asked carefully. Sam started a little and slowly nodded her head, painfully aware of how angry Ellison was going to be.  
  
"Is what Blair said about him, true, cher?" He asked in such a way as to sound genuinely concerned. He watched his protégé carefully. Sam was looking at him as he asked.  
  
"Jim's just a normal guy." She said, suddenly feeling suspicious and hating that she couldn't hide it from her eyes. "He's an ex-Ranger, very.disciplined and organized," she shrugged, shifting her gaze to the whales. "He's got these House Rules I guarantee are built to drive folks insane."  
  
"So the stories of a Sentinel are all fabrications?" Achille asked. Sam pursed her lips, glanced at him and nodded.  
  
"Sentinels?" She said simply. Achille looked skeptically at her.  
  
"I'm not quite believing you, cherie." He said quietly. "You were genuinely upset when I talked with you yesterday."  
  
"I was also mad as hell, Achille. I said some stupid things. Blair's messed around with that Sentinel thing for years. It was only a matter of time before it bit him one." Sam folded her arms, suddenly feeling a chill  
  
herself, and looked out over the pool. She felt the sense of dread deepening, knowing she had broken her word to Jim and she was trying to figure a way to get out of it.  
  
"What I said, when I got so mad yesterday, wasn't true." She lied. "Jim's just, Jim." She shrugged.  
  
Achille pursed his own lips, looking speculatively at her. Both heard the sounds of the door creaking open. Frowning, they both turned and looked.  
  
  
  
As the chopper blades were winding down, Jim had ripped his headset off, listening intently. They began piling out of the craft.  
  
"Sheriff wants us to wait here for him, before we do anything." Simon was yelling over the noise. He, Blair and Jim were ducking and moving out of the range of the blades, being windswept in the process. Several employees of the aquarium were approaching the three, looks of puzzlement and confusion on their faces.  
  
"We may not have time!" Jim warned, trying to concentrate.  
  
"Why?" Blair snapped.  
  
"I can hear your cousin, she's denying everything she said in the restaurant." Jim said distractedly, genuine shocked. Blair grabbed his elbow as they got out of the way of the helicopter.  
  
"What's she saying?" He asked urgently.  
  
"She's telling Legault, it was an accident. She's denying it."  
  
"I told you she wasn't doing it deliberately." Blair said. Jim scowled.  
  
"Legault doesn't believe her." He said, frowning in concentration. Simon was handling the approaching onlookers, knowing Jim and Blair were doing their thing.  
  
"Where are they?!" Blair asked. Jim held up a hand.he suddenly blinked and looked at Blair, his eyes going cold.  
  
"Rasmussen's just found them both! We gotta move!"  
  
"We can't move! We have to wait!" Simon snapped.  
  
"No time!" Jim shouted and began to run.  
  
  
  
Sam looked at a total stranger emerging onto the observation deck. She frowned at him in consternation.  
  
"Who are you.?" she asked, then froze upon seeing the gun in his hand.  
  
"Funny girl." The stranger replied, smiling coldly.  
  
"What." she started.  
  
"What is the meaning of this!?" Achille snapped grabbing Sam's arm and pulling her beside him. Sam looked at him and tried to pull her arm away.  
  
"You ought to know better then that, Legault." The man said calmly.  
  
"Get behind me, Cherie." Achille snapped at Sam.  
  
"What the hell is this all about?!" Sam snapped, looking at the stranger in anger.  
  
"It does not concern you, Cherie!" Achille snapped at her, trying to pull her behind him.  
  
"It does now." The man said.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" Sam exclaimed.  
  
"Nice try, McClennen." The man said. Sam felt a shock of ice hit her. How did he know her name? Sam suddenly began to lose her temper.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" She snapped pushing Achille's hand away. "What the hell are you doing, coming in here with a gun!?"  
  
"Samantha!" Achille said sharply. He grabbed her, pulling her to face him. "Listen to what I say!" He pulled her around him and turned to face Rasmussen.  
  
"What is all this about, monsieur?" he demanded, looking angrily at Rasmussen.  
  
"You're playing too many games, Legault."  
  
"Games?" Sam exclaimed. "Achille? Do you know him?"  
  
"Hush, cherie, just stay where you are!" Achille demanded eyeing Rasmussen uneasily.  
  
"What are you doing here, monsieur? You and I have discussed things already."  
  
"Well there's a little bit more to discuss now, Legault."  
  
"If that is so, mon ami, then please allow the lady to leave and we will discuss it in private."  
  
"Not so fast, Legault." Rasmussen purred, smiling at them both. "I'm quite sure she knows just as much if not more."  
  
"Know what?" Sam snapped back, eyeing the man.  
  
"Don't give me that innocent crap!" Rasmussen gritted back. "I'm in no mood for it!"  
  
"How did you get onto the facilities?" Sam shot back, confused. "Wh." She stammered holding her hands up and waving them. "What the hell is this about?"  
  
"What this is about is the two of you setting me up!" Rasmussen growled angrily.  
  
"Setting you up?!" Sam blurted out, looking totally confused. She looked at Achille. "What's he talking about?"  
  
"What he's talking about is none of your concern, cherie! Mr. Rasmussen, I must insist that you allow Miss McClennen to go free from here."  
  
"You aren't in a position to deal anymore, Legault. I'm the one calling the shots. And, right now, I want your research on these whales." Achille looked at Rasmussen and smiled coldly in return.  
  
"The files are not even here, monsieur! They are clear on the other side of Puget Sound!" He gestured with his chin.  
  
"Then I guess the three of us are going to go over there and get them!"  
  
"And if I refuse?" Legault asked.  
  
"You can be removed." Rasmussen said and raised the gun.  
  
"No!" Sam snapped, trying to get around Achille, her eyes huge.  
  
"Stay where you are, Samantha!" Achille shouted at her, trying to force her back behind him.  
  
"No!" She snapped looking at Rasmussen with an anger of her own.  
  
"No more! No more of this shit! What do you want? You tell me what you want! Don't you go around threatening folks!" She looked a little wild eyed. "I've had too many people." She stopped and looked at Rasmussen. "Too many! Too many!" She, swallowed uneasily and shook her head. Rasmussen frowned.  
  
"You really don't know do you?" he said accusingly. She looked sharply at him, struggling against the bile threatening to come up. She was shaking in anger and fear.  
  
"Don't know what?"  
  
"She knows nothing!" Achille snapped, trying to force Sam behind him, still. "She is not a participant in this affair, monsieur!"  
  
"She doesn't know anything about Ellison and Sandburg following me all yesterday afternoon?"  
  
Sam literally froze. She stared at him in open-mouthed shock.  
  
"Ellison and San.?"  
  
  
  
"Damn!" Jim snapped as he loped his way to the first set of buildings. He was fumbling in his back pocket trying to get his identification out as people looked oddly at the two running towards the buildings of the main facility.  
  
"Cascade PD!" Jim yelled, struggling to open his wallet. He held it up and showed it around. "Where is Achille Legault!?" Behind him, Blair had hauled out his own and was clipping it to his shoulder holster in a way anyone could see. He was turning in circles trying to remember which way to go.  
  
"This way!" He said to Jim, cutting in front of him and running as several people, surprised, stopped and pointed the way.  
  
"What are you hearing!?" Blair demanded as Jim caught up with him.  
  
"It's not good. Rasmussen thinks Legault and Sam have set him up, just like I thought."  
  
"Shit!" Blair hissed and pushed himself to run a little faster.  
  
  
  
Rasmussen smiled in triumph.  
  
"You do know them!" he confirmed holding the gun up on her.  
  
"Sandburg? My cousin?!" She looked at Rasmussen in utter confusion. "What's he got to do with this?"  
  
"You put on a good act." Rasmussen said.  
  
"It is no act!" Achille said, "She knows nothing!"  
  
"What is going on!"  
  
"So she doesn't know you tried to hire me to kill her cousin last night?" Rasmussen smiled maliciously. Sam stared at the man, then she turned on Achille.  
  
"You what?" she asked, staring at him in horror.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Rasmussen said almost gleefully, watching the exchange with interest.  
  
"Want's me to off the cousin, make it look like an accident in exchange for information about a special person and his trade secrets on whales."  
  
Achille watched the color drain slowly from her face.  
  
"Achille." she whispered as betrayal and stunned horror crashed through her.  
  
"Believe nothing he tells you, cherie. Can't you see he's deranged!"  
  
"That's why you've been." she whispered and looked at her mentor in a new light. Achille felt cold sweeping through his body that seemed to leave him with no feelings.  
  
"He's been what?" Rasmussen demanded. "There's more going here than meets the eye!"  
  
"Achille.how." Sam started.  
  
"Cherie," Achille breathed softly gazing fondly at the girl for the briefest moment. He reached up and rested a hand briefly on her cheek. "Forgive me." He said and lightly kissed her forehead, he then grabbed her and dragged her out of the way.  
  
"Whatever you intend to do? Do it now!" Achille snapped at Rasmussen and shoved Samantha into the pool. Rasmussen lifted the gun as Sam hit the water and Achille lunged forward.  
  
A single gunshot echoed off the walls of the pool.  
  
  
  
Jim's head snapped around, as he heard the gunshot pinging off the surrounding buildings.  
  
"Sandburg!" he yelled as he started to run, but as soon as the words left his mouth he suddenly stumbled, grabbing for both ears as he tumbled forwards. He fell hard to his knees as he let out a loud groan of pain.  
  
"Jim!" Blair skid to a halt. Jim was hastily dialing back his hearing as he struggled to his feet.  
  
"I'm all right, just go!" Jim growled shoving Blair ahead of him. Blair didn't argue, he hit the main Aquarium door and burst though with Jim stumbling behind him.  
  
"Sam!" Blair yelled looking wildly around trying to remember where the entrance to the deck was. Outside, Rasmussen, with an angry snarl on his face, was trying to aim at the figure in the pool, when the two Orcas blocked his view, their bodies hiding the figure from him One actually nosing her under the deck from his sight.  
  
Rasmussen spun around, realizing things weren't going well, he cast one sour look at the figure crumpled on the deck before him, then ran for the door.  
  
Halfway down the hall, Blair saw the door suddenly burst open as Rasmussen charged his way through.  
  
"Down!" Jim shouted as he reached behind him, left-handed, and tore his Sig- Sauer from the holster. Balancing his hand on his cast, he started to take aim when the sound he had heard not seconds before hit him like a shock wave, again. Not quite falling to his knees, Jim let out another groan, wavering unsteadily. Blair dove forward, rolling up to his feet as Rasmussen took a wild shot and fled down the corridor. He was after the man in seconds.  
  
"Sandburg!" Jim hollered, seeing Blair vanish, Jim ran to the open deck doorway and froze, gun held up and ready.  
  
Lying a few feet away was Achille Legault and, just over the deck's edge, he spotted Sam suddenly breaking the surface, gasping desperately for air. With an anguished look down the corridor, Jim knew he had to go to the man's assistance. He could tell that Achille was still barely alive. Running onto the deck, he set the Sig down as he knelt and slowly rolled Achille onto his back. One look at the bloodstained chest and Jim knew there was nothing he could do. He stared at the man who was grabbing his good wrist, then heard Sam slap a hand on the deck. He looked up as she gasped for breath, and watched her get literally shoved up onto the deck by the head of a huge creature just under the surface.  
  
"Mon ami." Achille choked and whispered harshly as he struggled to breathe. Jim looked sharply back at him as Achille gripped his shirt with a bloody hand. Sam was climbing to her feet and staring in horror at them both.  
  
"Safe." Achille gasped. "Safe."  
  
"What?!" Jim snapped.  
  
"You are safe." Achille whispered. His dark eyes locked with Jim's own.  
  
"You son of a bitch! You threatened to kill my partner!" Jim seethed, as he stared down at the growing pool of blood.  
  
"Forgive." Achille gasped. "Safe." he whispered, "Safe."  
  
"Achille." A scared, plaintive voice called out, Jim looked at Sam. The look that was coming over the drenched girl's face was one he'd never forget. She looked at him, recognized who he was and began moving sideways towards the door.  
  
"Achille?" she asked again sounding, for the all world, like a lost, lonely child.  
  
"Sam!" Jim barked out, trying to stop her. Achille's grip tightened, Jim looked down, seeing something final in the man's eyes.  
  
"Safe.mon ami. Safe." He whispered. Jim was transfixed as he watched the life slowly disappear from the man's eyes. "Safe." he hissed as his final breath left him. A rattling gurgle followed as blood trailed slowly from the man's mouth. Jim stared as Achille's head rolled back, his sightless eyes peering up into the blue skies.  
  
As the man died, an eerie, subsonic, keening filled the air, one only a few creatures, and one human, could hear.  
  
"Ahhhh!" Jim groaned, slapping his hands to his ears again as the keening shrilled through the air. Sam watched numbly, stumbling towards the door. Jim barely saw her move, as he cracked open a pain-filled, blue eye. Sam, staring in horror at the scene before her, suddenly turned and fled.  
  
"Sam!" He shouted, "No!" Snatching up his gun, Jim staggered to his feet and took off after her.  
  
  
  
Never in his life had Jim seen someone run as blindly as Sam McClennen. Heedless of anything before her, she burst out of the building and ran straight into the woods. Only occasionally did she throw a hand up in front of her face to ward off branches, running frantically along one of the hundreds of forest trails wending off into the Dabob Bay compound. Jim, upon reaching the outside, looked around quickly, trying to locate Blair.  
  
"Sandburg!" He yelled, awkwardly holstering his gun as he set off after Sam, he didn't dare use his hearing. The ultra sonic keening had not subsided and was leaving Jim with a raging headache. Looking around, all he could really see was Sam in her panicked flight. Scowling, Jim ran after her.  
  
  
  
Running along the same trails, Blair's memories of the place served him well. Regulating his breathing, he smiled slightly, pausing a moment, resting his hands on his thighs as he watched the runner ahead of him weave his way in and out of the trees. Blair glanced around, knowing how the trails worked and suddenly dodged down an adjacent path. Ahead of him, Rasmussen was doing whatever he could to elude any pursuers, but even he knew it was a waste of ammunition to take a running shot at someone. Still he didn't expect his follower to suddenly disappear.  
  
Confused, Rasmussen continued running until he reached a small clearing. Breaking through the thick trees and scrub, Rasmussen found himself in a tiny field bathed in sunlight, and he paused, looking around, holding his gun ready and straining his hearing, trying to track his hunter.  
  
Blair, hidden in the undergrowth, smiled in satisfaction, watching the man look around him in confusion. He had known that particular little footpath led to this clearing. He look around, stealthily grabbing a few rocks and edging closer to the trail leading away from the meadow. He worked his way closer until he was within the range he felt comfortable with then slowly stood up straight behind the enormous trunk of one of the great conifers growing in the area. With an eye on his target, he shifted the rock around in his hand, juggling it lightly until the weight felt just right, then he stepped carefully aside and let it fly.  
  
Rasmussen, still unable to hear anyone coming after him, simply knew that it wasn't over. Nervously fingering the gun, he snarled to himself, his eyes hard and cold. He was backing slowly towards the only exit he could see when a crashing in the undergrowth almost directly opposite from him snapped both head and hands into action. He fired twice into the bushes, backing up even more. Seconds later, to the right of the spot, another crashing occurred and again Rasmussen fired at it.  
  
Blair smiled with his own feral satisfaction as he judged his third rock, watching as Rasmussen backed closer and closer to him. He was close enough now that Blair could see the sweat on the man's forehead. Hefting his missile, Blair let it fly, aiming a little more to the right of his last one, and getting the corresponding reaction from Rasmussen. His back nearly to Blair now, Rasmussen was breathing hard, looking fixedly at the area where Blair had thrown the rock. Blair slipped his last stone into his hand, juggling it, again waiting until he had just the right shot. When the opportunity presented itself, Blair let it fly. Almost as soon as the rock left Blair's hand, Blair broke from his cover and charged.  
  
Feeling the itch that something was about to happen, Rasmussen turned, just barely seeing movement out of his peripheral vision and turned towards the trees behind him, swinging his gun around fast, firing. As he felt the recoil from his gun, something hard struck him, sending a blinding flash of light and pain into his head. At nearly the same instant, he felt someone hit him low in the legs. Moving fast, Blair caught the man low, around the knees, almost lifting him off the ground and slamming him hard into the dirt. With a grunt of surprise, Rasmussen felt his gun get knocked out of his grasp, as an audible pop sounded in the air. The pain hadn't quite registered until he found himself being slammed into the ground then forced over onto his stomach.  
  
It had barely registered in Rasmussen's mind to start fighting, when a searing, stabbing pain in his leg joined the one in his head and caused any self preservation instincts to vanish. By then, for him, it was too late. Blair had jabbed a knee into the small of his back, left hand on his neck, and the right hand wrenching Rasmussen's own right arm behind his back, hard. He let out a howl of agony as he attempted to get to his knees to fight, but his arm just got jerked up a little harder as Blair threw all his weight into keeping his quarry pinned to the ground.  
  
"Ha!" Blair barked in triumph, reaching behind him, left handed, for his cuffs. Never had he heard a sound more satisfying as when he heard the metal click around Rasmussen's wrist. Gripping the other cuff, Blair shifted around, grabbing Rasmussen's other wrist and jerking it around to join the first. Almost before either man could take another breath, it was over.  
  
Blair sat down with a relieved sigh, panting from the exertion and looked at his work. Rasmussen, face down in the dirt, was struggling to pull his leg up and trying to get a breath.  
  
"You're." Rasmussen gasped, sounding in pain. "A dead man!"  
  
Blair glanced down and saw that the man's knee looked a little awkward. He grinned suddenly, knowing his 'collar' wasn't going anywhere.  
  
"What did you do to my leg!?" Rasmussen gasped again, he groaned loudly, then gasped, "You're.A dead man!"  
  
"Yeah, I know, man!" Blair agreed, taking stock of himself, starting to brush off the dirt and twigs he'd picked up. "I've been there already. Decided to come back. Hey guess what? You're under arrest, buddy!" He glanced down at his arm and nearly passed out. A deep furrow had been ploughed along his upper arm and was freely oozing blood. Gingerly he reached up and looked at his arm in shocked surprise.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" he said, almost in wonder. "You shot me!"  
  
  
  
For someone as small as she was, and soaking wet, Jim was a little surprised at how fast Sam could move. She flew along the trails, never once looking back. But Jim could tell she ran out of sheer panic. He could almost smell it. Conserving his own energies, he kept after her. Approaching a rise in the terrain, the trail veered right along a low embankment and Jim spotted the opportunity to cut her off. Crashing through the undergrowth, Jim broke through on the pathway right behind her, reaching out his good hand and trying to catch her.  
  
She looked back at him with a horror that almost stopped him in his tracks, when her feet tangled in a root outcropping and she crashed to the ground. Unable to stop, Jim tangled with her arms and legs and it was only by sheer luck he was able to curl his bad hand to his chest, tuck, and roll to protect himself as he went down. He was up in a flash when the first gunshot sounded and his head snapped around in alarm as he tried to sight where it had come from. Distracted, he barely saw Sam move. Turning back his attention he saw Sam frantically scrambling up the embankment.  
  
"Sam!" he admonished, darting forward to pull her back down to the trail. Another report sounded, causing him to look again as he reached up to grab her leg. He had just grasped the fabric of her jeans when she flipped around suddenly, trying to crab her way backwards, and looking at him in utter fear.  
  
"Nooooooo!" She began to scream, when a third gunshot sounded. Jim reached up to grab her again when he saw the look on her face. Sam seemed to be doing whatever she could to flatten herself into the bank.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." she began babbling, her eyes screwed shut and cringing as he reached for her. Jim felt a little thunderstruck. He stared at her, seeing all the signs of fear and panic and realized it was all directed at him. He stopped his reach for her, looking at her in surprise for a split second before a forth shot rang out. Jim instantly raised up both hands hearing the fear in her voice as she continued rattling off apologies.  
  
"Sam?" he said, unable to hide his own confusion. Sam half twisted around, gasping for breath as she looked up the bank and realized there was no way she could climb out of his reach.  
  
"I didn't mean it!" She gasped, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jim said holding both hands up for her to see. "Slow down Sam, look, look at me," he said, backing up a step.  
  
"I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!" she rambled, trying to reach up above her head for something to help her keep climbing.  
  
"Hey!" Jim snapped out, trying to cut through the panic. He waited a moment until she was just panting for breath as the adrenaline she had been pumping trickled away.  
  
"Sam." He coaxed gently, holding his hands up. "Turn around, come on, turn around."  
  
Fighting for breath, Sam stared at the undergrowth a moment then risked glancing at the man. Jim smiled at her, genuinely relieved to see he was getting somewhere.  
  
"I'm not gonna hurt you." He said quietly. "Calm down, just calm down. Okay? Am I getting through here?" Sam just looked back at him, her hazel eyes full if fear, doubt, and mistrust. Jim stood with his hands up held out and out to the side, watching her carefully. He held a hand out towards her, waving his fingers, beckoning.  
  
"Come on." he said, gently. "I'm not mad at you. Okay? I'm not angry. Come on, let me help you down from there." He studied the frightened face. Sam was covered in dirt that clung to her sodden clothes. Several scratches from her headlong run were beginning to weep a little blood down her face.  
  
"Come on, Sam. Give me your hand. I'm not going to hurt you. I've told you that before. Let me help you down from there. Come on." He coaxed.  
  
"I. I didn't mean it!" She gasped, trying to rein in her breathing. Jim closed his eyes wearily, looking pained.  
  
"It's all right, Sam." He said gently. "I understand, give me your hand and let me help you down." As he coaxed, he cautiously listened around him, the keening subsonic noise was still trying to pop his eardrums. Filtering it out didn't help much, but from the undertones he was getting, he could just make out Blair mumbling about something. He had to be nearby.  
  
""I.I'm sorry." Sam stammered, a confused look crossing her features as she looked back up the embankment.  
  
"I know you are," Jim said carefully, still beckoning. "I know you're sorry. It's all right. Come on, Samantha, give me your hand." He smiled his encouragement, relieved to know that Blair was all right.  
  
Sam looked at him hesitantly, then she gingerly reached out a hand.  
  
"That's it." Jim murmured, he reached out and gently caught her fingers in his. "Come on down. I won't let you fall." Sam slid off the bank, frowning in confusion and looking around. Jim caught her arm with his bad hand and helped her gain her feet when she reached the trail.  
  
"That's it." he encouraged.  
  
"I'm sorry." Sam whispered, looking around, perplexed. Jim frowned slightly, watching her carefully.  
  
"It's okay Sam. Come on. let's go this way." Jim said, hearing a lost sound in her voice. He gently guided her in front of him, slipping his bad hand to her shoulder and cupping her elbow in his good one.  
  
For the next several minutes he coaxed and steered her down the trail, heading towards where he was convinced Sandburg was. All the while, Sam muttered her apologies, her voice sounding distant and distracted. Taller by a long shot, Jim spotted Blair sitting on the ground in a small clearing and next to him, a figure who occasionally moved. Jim frowned, watching as Blair wrapped his shirt around his arm and told the person next to him very clearly to 'shut up'.  
  
"Sandburg?" He called out. Blair never even lifted his head, he just worked on wrapping his shirt around his arm.  
  
"Over here, Jim."  
  
Not realizing he had stopped to see what was going on, Jim started forward, nudging Sam ahead of him. Silent now, she obeyed. At the clearing's edge, Jim finally made out why Blair was doing what he was doing. Alarmed, he stopped Sam, glancing down at her.  
  
"Stay here." He said firmly and jogged forward.  
  
"Chief?" He asked as he approached the scene. Blair glanced up at him. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground next to a groaning Rasmussen, who was neatly handcuffed. Jim looked at the man then glanced at Blair.  
  
"Son of a bitch shot me." Blair grumbled, concentrating on his task. Jim crouched before him, taking Blair's arm in his hand. "Hey!" Blair protested.  
  
"Let me look!" Jim snapped at him, all seriousness. Blair heaved a sigh, wincing as Jim began inspecting his graze. He glanced at Rasmussen.  
  
"I think I broke his knee."  
  
"You're a dead man." Rasmussen groaned.  
  
"We know." Jim growled, shooting an icy blue-eyed glare at him. He looked back at Blair, the beginnings of a smile lurking at the corners of his lips.  
  
"Just a graze, Chief. Was all that shooting a few minutes ago this?" he asked. Blair nodded.  
  
"Got him distracted long enough to tackle him and take him down. Ouch! Watch it, will you!" He shot a glare at Jim. Jim couldn't help it, he smirked.  
  
"Never occurred to you to draw your weapon?" he asked, nodding at Blair's holstered revolver.  
  
"Why? I only needed a few rocks." Jim looked at him, then shook his head.  
  
"Only you, Chief. Hold that." He said shifting Blair's makeshift band-aid around. Jim neatly helped tie it off. "You're only leaking a little, don't even think you'll need stitches."  
  
"The guy shot me, Jim!"  
  
"But you took him out." Jim smiled his approval. "Did you read him his rights?"  
  
"Not yet, I was attending to this. Hey?" Blair waved his free hand at his arm then looked up at Jim, puzzlement in his eyes. "What are you doing here? You just came in from the back way."  
  
"Had to go and get someone." Jim said, his eyes reflecting a serious tone. Blair frowned. Jim held up his bad fingers in warning.  
  
"Legault's dead." He said quietly. Blair stared at him a moment in shock.  
  
"No." Blair whispered. Jim nodded, again glancing at Rasmussen.  
  
"He's under arrest for murder, assault, both against a cop and with a deadly weapon, probably carrying illegally, and whatever else we can think of."  
  
"Sam?" Blair asked as Jim looked around and spotted Rasmussen's fallen gun.  
  
"Over by the trail." Jim nodded his head that way and stood up, offering a hand to Blair. Taking it, he let Jim pull him up to his feet. Blair looked around.  
  
"Where?" He asked. Jim's head snapped around as he scanned where he had left Sam standing.  
  
"Shit!' Jim hissed.  
  
"Sandburg?!" A voice back behind them, from the facility compound, yelled. Both turned and looked.  
  
"Up here, Simon!" Jim yelled back. Blair grasped Jim's arm.  
  
"Where is she, Jim?"  
  
"I just left her standing by the edge of the trail there." Jim began to scan the surroundings. "She was in a near panic, thought I was chasing after her for that bit in the restaurant. She was scared to death, Chief."  
  
"You kind of have that effect, Jim. Where was she when this all happened? What happened with Achille?"  
  
"Near as I can figure, Legault pushed her into the pool and tried to go after him. He was shot once in the chest. When I got to him was mumbling 'Safe' over and over again before he died. Sam saw it."  
  
"Oh shit." Blair breathed, his mind suddenly racing. "We've got to find her, Jim."  
  
"She's acting weird, Chief." Jim warned again as both could hear people approaching the scene.  
  
"Jim!" Simon called out as he and several other uniforms joined them.  
  
"Simon?!" Blair turned to him, worry all over his face. "Did you see Samantha on your way up?"  
  
"Your cousin? No. why? You two realize we've got a dead man on our hands? This entire place is in an uproar!" As Blair spat out a curse, Jim nodded at Rasmussen.  
  
"There's your perp, right there. You can thank Sandburg for taking him down. In the meantime we've got a witness who has vanished."  
  
"Vanished?!" Simon barked skeptically looking directly at Jim as he did. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"  
  
"Because we haven't had a chance to go looking for her." Blair responded quickly.  
  
"You're gonna need paramedics." Jim warned, "He's not able to walk and this one." He nodded at Blair. "Is going to get his arm tended to once we find our witness." Simon glared at them both for a fraction then looked at his County counterpart.  
  
"Sheriff, if anyone can find the witness, it's these two." He said smoothly. "I'd suggest we handle this piece of garbage and let them go after her."  
  
"You won't get an argument there. This one is enough to keep us occupied." as the Sheriff barked out a few orders to his surrounding men.  
  
"Watch that piece." Jim said pointed towards the gun. "That's our murder weapon."  
  
"Gotcha Detective, good work fella's." He added and looked down at Rasmussen. Jim and Blair took the chance and left.  
  
  
  
"Where the hell would she have gone?!" Jim growled.  
  
"I don't know, Jim. Can't you hear her, see her, smell her??"  
  
"Not the hearing, Chief." Jim grumbled as they searched back the way Jim had come. He was looking around with his extraordinary vision and coming up with nothing.  
  
"Why not the hearing?" Blair asked, falling into place behind him.  
  
"There's something subsonic screaming in my ears. Been giving me a headache since just before we heard that first gunshot. Just seconds before Legault was gunned down."  
  
"Subsonic.." Blair stopped in his tracks and looked at Jim in shock.  
  
"Jim, it's the whales."  
  
"Come on Sandburg!" Jim protested looking back at him. "I've heard whales before, on and off tape. This is something different."  
  
"Different how?" Blair challenged. Jim scowled, waving his hands.  
  
"How the hell should I know? It's loud, it's giving me a hell of a headache and it was hurting my eardrums..."  
  
"But how did it sound, Jim!" Blair snapped. Jim glared at him a second.  
  
"It sounded." then he paused, looking at him. "It sounded anguished, sorrowful."  
  
"It was the whales." Blair confirmed grimly. "They know."  
  
"How can they know?!" Jim protested.  
  
"They were in the same place as Achille. Achille's been their keeper. He died next to their pool. He also shoved Sam into it. She was reacting too. Whales aren't stupid Jim, they are aware." Jim was looking skeptically at him, but a glimmer of doubt had crept into his eyes.  
  
"One of them did shove Sam back up onto the deck."  
  
"Exactly." Blair insisted. "They do that any time someone falls into their pool. Most are trained to, some just do it. They knew Achille was about to die. What you're hearing is their reaction to his death."  
  
"That may be so but it's playing hell with my hearing and my head!"  
  
"Then concentrate on smell and sight, we've got to find Sam."  
  
  
  
Where they found her took both men by surprise.  
  
  
  
An hour spent searching the outside grounds provided nothing, so the two turned their attentions to the buildings. On a hunch, Blair suggested the otter house and hit pay dirt. Jim reached out his hand and touched Blair's shoulder as they walked past an observation window revealing several otters in constant rolling, swimming movement, cruising languidly past the window without a care in the world. Jim frowned as he scanned past the great window, Blair noticed his eyes changing to see beyond what he could see.  
  
"What the hell." Jim muttered.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"She's on the other side of the tank in another room."  
  
"Must be the nursery." Blair said starting forward. "This way." He led Jim around the halls and approached a door marked clearly as an otter nursery. Jim stopped him again.  
  
"Chief." he warned. "Be extra careful, we don't know what she's going to be like."  
  
"Can you hear anything yet?"  
  
Jim grimaced and shook his head no.  
  
"That subsonic interference hasn't let up."  
  
"Okay, let me go ahead of you." Blair said and reached for the door.  
  
  
  
Inside, Sam sat perched on the edge of a smaller holding tank. She was still covered with dirt and twigs, dried blood and half-dry clothes. Leaning over the tank she held a baby bottle upright to a small yellowish white creature that was floating on it's back in the tank and growling as it chewed on the nipple of the bottle.  
  
"Piglet." Sam clearly said as Blair slowly came into the room with Jim right behind him. Sam looked perfectly normal, just doing her job in taking care of a small sea creature. Her appearance belied the fact.  
  
"Sam?" Blair asked cautiously.  
  
"Make sure the door's shut please." Sam said, her eyes only on the otter. Disturbed by the rise in voice, the otter let loose of the bottle and sent out one, loud, angry screech. Jim immediately slapped a hand to his ear, groaning at the pain it inflicted.  
  
"Son of a." he started to curse. Blair turned him around.  
  
"Go wait outside, I'll be right out." Jim scowled in disgust and reluctantly left. Blair waited until the door had closed, then he turned to Sam.  
  
"Sam?" he asked walking over to where she sat, half-leaned over the tank and trying to placate the frazzled little creature.  
  
"She's still rattled over her flight." Sam said, not looking up. "The sedatives have all worn off, but she's starting to settle down."  
  
"That's good." Blair said looking at the creature then at Sam.  
  
"Sam?" he asked again.  
  
"We had to set down in Newport though. She was hyperventilating. Took nearly an hour to settle her enough to get her to take the bottle with the tranq's in it." Sam grinned suddenly at the otter who had glommed onto the bottle and was noisily sucking away, still mingled with growling.  
  
"And you're nothing but a swimming appetite too." She said fondly. Blair looked at Sam worriedly.  
  
"Sam." he tried again. This time he reached up to touch her. As his hand neared, hers came up, blocking him. He raised both of his hands up.  
  
"Sam.listen to me." He said carefully.  
  
"I'm fine." Sam said, still not looking his way. She continued ministering to the creature in the tank and smiling gently at it. "Everything is just fine."  
  
"If everything is just fine Sam, why is your hand shaking so badly?" Blair asked softly. Sam froze. The hand holding the bottle shook hard enough to cause the otter to growl as the bottle rocked. Blair reached out and took Sam's hand in his own. Clik immediately settled with a happy squeak, reaching up to grab the bottle with two paws. Sam's other hand on the tank's edge was white knuckled, her grip was so tight. A shudder ran through her as Blair gently took her hand.  
  
"Sorry Piglet." he murmured with a smile to the otter and pulled the bottle away. Clik let out a protesting screech that caused Blair to wince. Spying a nearby clamshell he grabbed it and slipped the toy into the blind critters paws. The otter immediately began chewing on it, pushing away from them in a backstroke. Within seconds she had the shell grasped between her two paws and was busily pounding on the side of the tank with it. Blair shook his head, then turned his attention to Sam, who was just staring at the creature. Removing the bottle, Blair pulled Sam around to face him.  
  
"Sam?" He bent his head looking into her lackluster eyes as he took both her hands into his. He was appalled at the look on her face. "Come on, Sam, let's take you home, okay?"  
  
"No." Sam said distantly trying to pull her hands free and frowning. "I can't leave here. We've taken on a new otter."  
  
"Sammy, someone else can watch her for you. We need to go."  
  
"I can't leave here." she said quietly.  
  
"We have to, babe." He said gently. "Sam what do you remember?" Sam just sat and blinked a few times, her mind tumbling over his question. Finally she looked up at him.  
  
"Blair?" she asked. Blair smiled sadly.  
  
"It's me." He said, squeezing reassurance through his hands. Sam was beginning to shake.  
  
"I got mad at you didn't I?" She asked plaintively. "I'm sorry." She said distantly. "I said something wrong."  
  
"It's okay Sam, come on." Blair pulled her upright, slipping his good arm around her shoulders. He led her to the door.  
  
"I think I upset Jim." she murmured, staring at the floor, puzzled.  
  
"It's all right there, too, Sam." Blair murmured, letting go of her hand long enough to open the door.  
  
  
  
In the hallway, Jim had leaned back against the wall, head tipped back, thinking hard. Achille's last words puzzled him and they kept rolling over and over in his head. He was thinking on that when Simon showed up.  
  
"Jim?" he asked. Jim shook himself and glanced at the man. "Where's Sandburg?"  
  
"In there, we found her."  
  
"Is she?" Simon started Jim shook his head.  
  
"I don't know yet. I think we may have a Critical Incident case on our hands."  
  
"Shock?" Simon asked. Again Jim nodded. Simon grimaced and sighed.  
  
"Look, I've told the Jefferson County Sheriff that we were acting on tips that Rasmussen had threatened to kill Legault over some trade secrets. It's close enough to be true, just not all of it. He's wanting to ask questions of all of us."  
  
"Secrets." Jim murmured as he nodded in response to Simon's words. He looked at Simon.  
  
"Safe."  
  
"What?" Simon asked puzzled.  
  
"Legault.as he was dying told me I was safe, then his tone changed. He kept repeating 'safe' over and over. It was his last word. Safe. He was telling me where his research is."  
  
"A safe? Here?" Simon asked.  
  
"Here, or in Cascade." Jim said. The door next to the two men opened, swinging inward. Jim turned, looking worriedly at Blair, who was guiding Sam through the door. Jim caught the door, holding it open.  
  
"Sandburg?" Simon asked.  
  
"Are those paramedics here?" Blair asked, the look on his face enough to tell both of them he was very concerned.  
  
"Yeah, C' mon." Simon said. Blair glanced at Jim.  
  
"Can you find me a blanket?"  
  
"Sure, Chief.I want those paramedics to check you out, too." He said and strode on ahead of them. Simon glanced at Blair, seeing his makeshift band- aid.  
  
"Miss McClennen?" Simon asked, looking anxiously down at her. Sam was staring at the baseboards, distractedly pulling hair away from her face.  
  
"Simon." Blair murmured shaking his head no, "Not yet, okay?"  
  
"All right, Sandburg, whenever you're ready. What happened to you?"  
  
"It's nothing Simon, it's just a graze."  
  
"Just a." Simon stared at Blair a moment, then grimaced in disgust. "I want the full story when we get this taken care of."  
  
"Anything you want Simon.right now I've got something a lot more important to take care of."  
  
"That's understandable." Simon said dryly as he held open the door. As they all squinted at the bright sunlight, Sam hesitated, coming to a stop and looking utterly confused.  
  
"Come on, Sam." Blair urged, gently trying to get her to move. She lifted a hand, trying to shrug his arm off her shoulder.  
  
"No." She said. "I need to talk to Achille." She frowned, trying to think. Blair looked pained as Simon watched.  
  
"Sam." he started. She blinked and looked at him.  
  
"Blair, I need to talk to Achille. He called today didn't he? Let me use your phone."  
  
A look of puzzlement crossed Simon's features as Blair closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.  
  
"Sam, don't worry about it right now, okay? Just come with me." Blair coaxed, trying to steer her towards a group gathering in the parking lot.  
  
"No, I need to talk to him." She said distantly as she tried to push his hands away. She looked around.  
  
"Sam."  
  
"I just saw him." she said, looking towards a second crowd of police and people near the whale house.  
  
"Sandburg." Simon asked in concern.  
  
"She's just confused, Simon." Blair said as he gripped her shoulder, steering her towards the parking lot. He barely made out Jim near a paramedic's EMT vehicle, getting a blanket from one of them.  
  
"Let's go over there first." Blair said.  
  
"No, Blair!" She said her voice rising. "I need to talk to Achille, he was just over in the whale house. Let me go talk to him." She said and slipped out of his grip. Blair caught her neatly by the arm as she tried to dodge past, turning her to face him  
  
"No!" he snapped. Reaching up and grabbing her shoulders. "You can't go over there!"  
  
"Blair!" She snapped. "I have to talk to him! He's my boss!"  
  
"No." Blair said firmly, closing his eyes in anguish. He knew what was coming. Simon saw it too.  
  
"Sandburg." he said gently.  
  
"Simon, I'll handle it."  
  
"Blair, c'mon! I've got to go and talk to him." Sam insisted, trying to wriggle free of his grip.  
  
"No!" he snapped , pulling her back to face him.  
  
"Dammit Blair, let me go!" she snapped. Blair reached up and took her head gently in his hands.  
  
"Look at me!" He said urgently. Sam promptly glared back, grabbing his wrists and getting ready to break his grip.  
  
"Listen to me a minute!" he said forcefully.  
  
"What?!" she snapped, staring into his eyes. Closing them wearily, Blair sighed and bit his lip. He focused on her again, making sure he had her one hundred percent attention.  
  
"Listen to me a minute, all right?" he asked. A tiny crease appeared between her eyes as Sam felt the urgent grip he had on her head and neck.  
  
"What?" she asked. Blair drew in a steadying breath, his eyes full of pain and regret.  
  
"Achille's dead, Sammy." he said slowly, quietly. "Achille is dead."  
  
  
  
For Blair, it felt as though everything had stopped. Sam stared at him, her eyes swirling with a thousand different reactions. Blair watched as the memories returned and her face literally drained of color.  
  
"No.." she whispered looking into his compassionate eyes. Her head began to shake in denial as her knees gave out.  
  
Jim appeared abruptly behind her, catching her by the arms, wrapping a blanket around her.  
  
"I got ya." he said.  
  
"No!" She snapped looking at Blair, who was dropping his head.  
  
"Sam." he whispered.  
  
"Come on." Jim said firmly, steering Sam away from the whale house. She didn't have much choice but to let him guide her towards the folks in the parking lot.  
  
"No." she whispered in horror. Blair turned away, running a shaky hand through his short curls. Simon reached up and gripped his shoulder.  
  
"Come on Blair.." Simon said in sympathy.  
  
"Damn it!" Blair seethed. "Damn it all!"  
  
  
  
1.6 Epilogue  
  
Cascade, two weeks later.  
  
Achille's murder had far more impact as a tragedy than a sense of relief to Jim and the people around him. Though his secret was safe, the reactions over the course of several weeks were far worse then the twenty-four hours that Jim had believed he'd been sold out. Even he had to admit that in the very final moments of the man's life, he had asked for forgiveness.  
  
Blair blamed himself for the entire mess. Deeply feeling the impact of the man's death and struggling to aid his cousin with the aftermath, he had a rough time in sorting out his own feelings. Sam had simply slipped into a world of her own making. During the funeral she never once looked at the casket, staring either at the ground or lost in thought, gazing off into the trees. She refused to speak of it.  
  
Understandably, Jake Jacobsen was furious and upset over the turn of events. It had taken Simon, Blair, and Jim a great deal of talking to convince the man that what had occurred had been the result of Rasmussen trying to obtain Achille's research on his beloved whales. The concrete proof being when Jim walked into Samantha's office and produced the research from the safe in her room. He explained that Achille had told him where it was. As the temporary acting Director, Jacobsen stared at the research and realized that what they had been saying had to be the truth. It didn't, however, take away the blow they felt at the loss of the driving force behind Cascade Aquarium.  
  
It naturally hit the headlines of the Cascade news, even going National. Simon saw to it that Blair and Jim were carefully removed from any media attention, as well as Samantha McClennen.  
  
Sam had gone into deep denial, even protesting when Blair insisted that a doctor check her over. There was really nothing they could do, but the doctor warned him to be aware of the fallout that was sure to follow, considering how Sam's month had gone. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that something was going to crack sooner or later. Jim himself could practically feel it approaching. It was just going to take something to tip her in over the edge. Knowing that kept both Blair and Jim edgy and it had been a trying fortnight.  
  
Jim could see the pain it was causing his partner in a hundred different little ways. Helpless to do anything, Jim decided that whenever Sam finally did reach the point of breaking, he was going to make sure they all got through it.  
  
Insisting that she was fine and that she needed to work, Sam had taken up residence at the new Aquarium shortly after her otters and the two big whales had been relocated to the new facilities. Sleeping on a makeshift cot had made her irritable and hard to work with it. Several times she and Blair argued, resulting in hurt feelings between the two of them and Jim gritting his teeth. Something had to happen.  
  
  
  
It took a whale that refused to eat to do it.  
  
  
  
On a September morning, three days after the transfer of Sascha and Sitka to Cascade Aquarium, Jim awoke with the hunch that this was the day. Rising early, and stealthy as a cat, Jim had dressed and left, leaving a stressed out Sandburg to sleep in late. Jim headed straight for the Aquarium.  
  
The temperatures had dropped, marking the end of summer. This particular morning was grey and drizzly. Jim pretty much had free access now, in and out of the place, and had no trouble pulling in and parking. Upon stepping out, his ears caught the unusual keening cry of a whale. It struck in Jim an achingly sorrowful note. He looked pained. Reaching a hand into his pocket he pulled out a tiny box holding his white noise adapters. Putting them into his ears, he adjusted his own extraordinary senses accordingly, then headed for the entrance. A few minutes later he was searching out Samantha, but found Jake Jacobsen first. He slipped his hands into his jacket pockets and joined him at the display window.  
  
"Jake." Jim greeted cordially. Jake turned and looked at him. He had been standing in front of a huge, two-level, observation window showing an above water and an underwater view of the new Orca pool. His arms were crossed in front of him and he looked frustrated.  
  
"Ellison." He said. Just to the right of the above water view, Jim could see Sam standing on the observation deck, half bent over the edge, holding a salmon in her hand. Next to her sat a cooler.  
  
"What brings you here?" Jake asked. Jim pursed his lips, looking at the haggard features of the girl out on the deck.  
  
"Hunch." Jim said. "How's she doing?"  
  
"Oh man." Jake groaned and rubbed his face with a hand. " She can be such a bitch."  
  
"That bad huh?" Jim commented, looking askance at him.  
  
"Especially today. Everything is frustrating her. All the new responsibilities, lack of sleep, and now this." Jake waved a hand at the window. Jim raised and eyebrow.  
  
"This, being?"  
  
"Sascha. She hasn't eaten since we transferred her here. She's not responding to the verbal commands. It's tough dealing with a blind whale. Achille had a magic touch with her. Now she hasn't eaten in three days. Sam's been out there for an hour now, trying to get Sascha to eat. We're getting to a point where if that whale doesn't start taking food on her own, we're going to have to force feed her." Jake looked at Jim, who was frowning a little in puzzlement.  
  
"Ever try to force feed 2000 pounds of Killer Whale?"  
  
"Can't say that I have." Jim replied dryly. He couldn't get over how small Samantha looked out on that deck, even more so when one of the big whales cruised close to the platform.  
  
"She's been extra frustrated this morning, too." Jake added.  
  
"More than normal?" Jim asked. Jake nodded absently, watching the two whales a moment. Sascha only hovered near the deck's edge, Sitka cruised around good-naturedly.  
  
"Shut door." Jake said a touch sourly. "Won't say a word. Won't talk about Achille, unless she absolutely has to and then only if it's in regards to business. She's been living here since the otters were moved into the exhibit and I haven't any idea when the last time that she slept was. I've tried to get her to talk about the shooting, my wife has tried, Blair has been here a couple of times. Nothing is working. She just gets mad and throws herself at the work. The staff thinks she's turned into a cold- hearted bitch. One of these days." Jake said softly, glancing at the person on the observation deck. Both could see her speaking to the almost motionless whale.  
  
"One of these days." Jim nodded. He glanced at Jake.  
  
"Mind if I head out there?" he asked. Jake frowned.  
  
"Why are you asking me?"  
  
"You're the Acting Director." Jim replied simply. "This is going to be your Aquarium. Courtesy says ask." Jake looked at Jim squarely, then sighed, nodding.  
  
"Yeah, sure you can go out there." Then he leaned forward and offered Jim his hand. "Thanks, Ellison." Jim smirked a little and shook the offered hand.  
  
"Don't thank me. I was just doing my job."  
  
Jake smiled. "And it can be a thankless one I'm sure." He let go of Jim's hand and glanced back out the window. "I've got a ton of paperwork to sort through. If it starts to rain? Get her inside, I need her to be around and not laid up in some hospital fighting Pneumonia." Jake smiled a little, then clapped the Detective on his shoulder and walked away. Jim waited a moment, watching the whales through the Plexiglas. A touch to his hearing brought Sam's words to him.  
  
"C'mon Sascha." She said plaintively. "You have to eat something! For cryin' out loud you're too damned big for me to try and force fish down you throat. C'mon Sascha!"  
  
For a while, Jim just stood and watched the interplay. On occasion the smaller Orca would surface, venting air, then submerge. He could hear, just faintly, the sonar of the male briefly echoing round the tank and the occasional sad response of the other. Sam continued pleading, her voice beginning to crack with frustration. As the clouds began to release a steady cloaking drizzle, Jim finally went to the doors at his right and let himself out onto the deck.  
  
"Please Sascha." Sam whispered, never hearing the door open. She dangled the fish over the water. "C'mon girl. You've got to eat something." Sitka cruised by, lifting the prosthetic fin he wore as he effortlessly glided by on his side. A move usually guaranteed to earn him something as that was what he had been taught in order for the tech's to check on his damaged fin. Sam heaved a sigh.  
  
"All right Sitka." She said in defeat. She made a motion with her free hand and the whale looped instantly around. He poked his head out of the water and opened his enormous pink jaws, wide. Sam tossed the fish into his mouth and he instantly submerged. Sam ignored the drizzle and the water that splashed up onto the platform as she dropped to her knees and shook her hand out in the water. She sat back on her haunches, holding the edges of the deck and watched the other whale.  
  
"C'mon Sascha. You're beginning to lose too much weight." She said softly, gazing into the pool. The whale didn't respond.  
  
After a moment Sam slipped over onto her hip, bracing herself upright with her left hand and flipping a stray strand of hair away with her right. She gazed out at the island in the Orca tank, its trees and shrubs echoing the outside landscaping. Achille had wanted the most spectacular aquarium in the world. He was well on his way to getting it. As the drizzle began to turn to rain, she reached up and wiped at her face, looking back down into the pool at the smaller Orca.  
  
"I miss him, too, Sasch." She barely whispered, dashing at the water hitting her face. "I miss him, too." Sam dropped her head, heaving another sigh. She reached up to her face again, wiping at her eyes, feeling moisture there that wasn't coming from the skies.  
  
"Oh god." she breathed softly. "I miss him, too." As her voice cracked, she felt the tears welling in her eyes. "How the hell am I supposed to go on with this place? I don't know the first thing about running one of these places." She whispered. "What am I supposed to do?" She shifted again, dangling her legs off the platform, dropped her hands between her knees and hung her head in misery.  
  
"What the hell am I supposed to do?" She whispered as she gazed at the Orca beneath her feet. Leaning forward she reached up a hand to her face, her shoulders beginning to shake as she fought against the emotions threatening to cut loose of her control.  
  
She never heard the feet on the deck behind her. She never heard him approach. She became aware of a presence behind her just seconds before a pair of hands gently rested on her shoulders. Sam instantly tensed and began to swing around.  
  
"Shhh." Jim hushed her, firmly but gently holding her down. Sam began to dash at the tears in her eyes, her heart suddenly tripping as she fought against the tidal wave of emotion. "Don't fight it any more." He said softly, dropping to a knee behind her. "Let it go, Sam. Let it go." He kept her in place. Feeling her begin to struggle under his hands. "I know you miss him." he said quietly, he paused and went on. An animal like keening escaped Sam's lips. He literally could feel the turmoil boiling underneath his hands.  
  
"C'mon Sam." Jim softly pleaded. "You have got to let this out before it kills you."  
  
"No!" Sam whispered harshly, suddenly unable to fight against the sobs. The hands on her shoulders were full of strength and comfort. "No!"  
  
"Let it out Sammy." Jim urged, his mouth near her ear. "Don't fight it anymore." She began to shake her head in denial, despite the tears rolling down her face.  
  
"You might feel like you're falling all apart but there are people here who'll help pick up the pieces." He said quickly. "It's okay Sammy, just let it all out."  
  
"It's just that." She hissed through her teeth, struggling, and dashing away tears from her eyes with fingertips that were turning red with cold. "I don't know anything about running a place like this. I can't figure out funding and grants. I know nothing about the finances and hoops to jump through. And now I can't get this damn whale to eat. How the hell am I supposed to help run an Aquarium when the whale starves to death?" The frustration was spilling out of her. She slapped her leg in frustration  
  
"Sam.." Jim said gently, squeezing her too thin shoulders. "Don't fight it." He whispered. "You've got to let it out."  
  
"What the hell would you know about it, eh?!" She snapped out angrily. "You don't know anything about running an Aquarium either!"  
  
"This isn't about running this place." Jim replied. "It's about hurting. It's about death and it's about grief."  
  
"I don't want to talk about this!" Sam seethed through gritted teeth, tensing tightly under the hands holding her in place.  
  
"Sammy." Jim said quietly. "Listen to me, please." He set his forehead against the back of her thick curls.  
  
"Listen to me, please." He repeated, his thumbs working at the knots in her neck. She remained tight, trying to stop the crying, dashing furiously at the tears rolling down her face.  
  
"What?!" she whispered harshly, trying to crawl inside her skin.  
  
"I know what's it's like to lose people." He said gently. He felt her tense in preparation to respond. "Shhhh." He urged. "Let me talk. Just listen, all right? Just listen." He waited until the tightness slackened a little then he started working on her neck again, he pulled her hair away, flipping it over her shoulder to hang loosely down her front. "Just listen to me a minute, all right?" he said, shifting his position behind her. Sam heaved a sigh, shaking her head staring down into the crystal blue waters of the pool at the small Orca hovering motionless in the water beneath her feet.  
  
"I've had to deal with a lot of death in my life." He said softly. "Not just with my job but on a personal level, too." He continued working on the marble hard knots under his fingers. A little abruptly one of her tight shoulders dropped. Sam let out a shuddering sigh, dashing a hand at her face again.  
  
"Couple of years ago, a woman I loved was gunned down in front of me, just like Achille was with you. Almost a decade ago I lost seven members of my unit in a helicopter crash. Two months ago, you saw five members of a research team blown up. When I started working in Major Crime, my partner was gunned down in a kidnapping ransom delivery situation gone bad, his body got washed downriver and it was years before we realized he was dead. But you know the one that hurts the worst?" he asked. Sammy didn't reply. Jim could see she still clenched her teeth and stared at the water. After a pause she shook her head.  
  
"I was about ten." Jim said quietly. "My Dad had no time for me and my little brother. He was too busy making money." He paused, suddenly struggling with the words. He kept working his thumbs into her neck. Presently her eyes shifted, her head leaning away and allowing him a little more room to work at the knots.  
  
"What happened?" she whispered. Jim refrained from smiling in triumph. He had her.  
  
"I had a mentor. His name was Bud. He was one of the coaches on the football team. He worked wonders with kids and he worked wonders with me. He was more a dad to me than anyone else." Jim paused, waiting. She followed his trail.  
  
"What happened to him?" she whispered. Jim smiled a little sadly.  
  
"He was killed." Jim said simply. Sam frowned a little.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Serial killer." Jim replied. He felt her tense again. Sam succeeded in twisting around to face him. Jim stared at her haunted, drawn and tired face, his hands resting on her shoulders. She gazed at him a moment, startled by the compassion coming from his blue eyes.  
  
"Serial." She whispered staring at him in horror.  
  
"I saw his murderer. Buddy was slashed across the throat. I found his body seconds after the killer dumped him. I saw the guy running through the trees still holding the knife."  
  
Her hand drifted to her mouth.  
  
"Oh my." she breathed.  
  
"So you see, Sammy." Jim said gently, stroking her hair back. "I know a little something about death. I know that holding the grief in can eat you alive. My dad told me that it was impossible for me to have seen the killer." Jim pointed to his eyes. "But I had seen him, Dad told me I would be called a freak if I continued to tell folks I saw the killer. Do you know what happened?" Sam studied his face a moment then shook her head, her body was beginning to shake.  
  
"I buried it all, the grief, the shock, the horror." he paused. "The senses. I wouldn't touch it again until Blair came along and systematically began tearing down all my walls and helping me rebuild them again." A light smile touched his lips as he studied the haggard face before him. "But in those years before, I was a bitter, angry, son of a bitch, who didn't care two cents about anyone around me. I ended up getting a lot of people hurt because of it. One of them was my wife, and I lost her because I couldn't come to terms with the pain, the grief and the loneliness." Jim reached up and cupped her face in his hands.  
  
"Don't let this thing eat you alive," he said softly. "You're too young to be letting the bitterness eat you up and that is what is happening to you. You have got to let this stuff out." His thumb ran across her cheekbone. "Sam, there's one thing about all of these deaths that never changes." He said. She just watched him a moment, her features getting achingly sad.  
  
"You never stop missing them," he said "Never."  
  
For a long time she said nothing, just staring at him. But Jim could feel the changes happening under his hands. The shaking increased as the tears began to fill her eyes. He smiled gently at her, reaching up to stroke the hair away from her face. His thumb lightly brushed away a tear rolling down her cheek. Something in the back of his eyes got to her. Her whole body trembled. Jim shifted again, pulling her close, one hand diving into his jacket pocket and pulling out a handkerchief  
  
"Let it go.." He murmured in her ear as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. He heard her snort slightly as he handed the handkerchief to her and she begin to resist him.  
  
"Don't fight it, Sam, don't hold it in." he murmured, tucking her head gently into his chest. "It's all right." He whispered into the crown of her head. "I'll be right here to pick up the pieces."  
  
Sam let out a soft moan, her hand covering her face. The dam behind her tightly controlled emotions suddenly began to break.  
  
"That's it." Jim murmured. "That's it." he encouraged softly. "Let it out.its okay, you'll be all right." As the last of her resistance began to be torn away, a soft keening escaped her lips. Jim's grip around her tightened. It matched the keening of the creature floating just underneath them.  
  
The dam finally broke.  
  
For the longest time Jim just sat there holding her to him as she let years of sorrow out of her system. All he could do was hold, rock, and murmur in her ear. Sam wept long and hard, clinging to him. By the time she finished she was literally spent, wrung out like an old rag. Jim just let her lie, leaning over her protectively to block out the rain coming down. He watched as Sascha edged away from them, one of her eerie blue blind eyes briefly visible and joined Sitka in his explorations of the huge tank. The smaller Orca breached and vented, making a soft hiss as a plume of water vapor drifted up lazily in the soft rain, before disappearing like a ghost. For a few minutes Sam just lay quiescent across his lap before a shivering of a different kind began to shake her frame. Jim shrugged out of his jacket.  
  
"C'mon." he said quietly, draping it over her shoulders. Docile as a lamb she let Jim help her to her feet. Loose damp curls hid her face as she gazed distractedly at the ground. She only moved when he settled his coat over her shoulders better. That's when she reached out and touched his hand. The cast had been replaced by a flexible wrist support.  
  
"It's off." She whispered. Jim paused, guiding her in front of him. He smiled slightly, flexing his fingers.  
  
"Yeah. Came off a couple of days ago. Good as new." He began steering her towards the doors.  
  
"Jim," she whispered softly, looking at his hand on her arm. "I'm so sorry for everything that has happened." Jim smiled.  
  
"You've apologized at least a dozen times. You don't need to. We can talk about it all later." Her head tilted slightly.  
  
"I've only been a source of trouble for you." She added, regret in her voice.  
  
"You're wiped out, Sam, you're grieving and you're vulnerable," he said gently. "I'm going to take you home. You need a warm place to eat and rest a while." He pushed open the door, letting her through before him. Sam made no argument. Jim's lips quirked just a little. She didn't resist. He dug into his jacket pocket and hauled out his keys.  
  
"Truck's in the front lot. I need to tell Jake where we'll be. Go on out there and wait." He curled the keys in her hands. Sam nodded, still not lifting her head. He steered her towards the nearest exit, letting her out then turned and hunted down Jake.  
  
He was in Achille's office, paperwork strewn everywhere in an attempt to organize things. He looked up when Jim appeared in the doorway.  
  
"Say listen.Sam needs a few days off."  
  
"What?!" Jake asked, looking at him, shocked. Jim smiled, scratching at the back of his head.  
  
"She's finally letting things out," he said, looking at Jake meaningfully.  
  
"Really? Sure, get her out of here. I can get one of the volunteers to handle that ball of fur of hers in the Otter exhibit."  
  
"You may want to go out to the Orca pool and feed that whale." Jim added. Jake looked startled. "She was swimming around the tank with the other one when we left."  
  
"Swim." Jake paused, then straightened. "I'll get out there." Jim nodded and backed out of the doorway.  
  
"I'll have Sam call you tomorrow. She needs a little down time."  
  
"No problem, Jim. Just make sure she comes back intact. I need help with that mess in there." Jake replied nodding at Achille's office. Jim smiled as the Biologist hustled off.  
  
Minutes later, as he tossed a fish into Sascha's eagerly open mouth Jake paused, frowning briefly. How the hell did Ellison know the whale was ready to eat?  
  
  
  
At the truck, Jim pulled open the door and stopped. Looking in, Sam sat in Blair's place, sound asleep, her head leaning against the window. She was huddled into and dwarfed by his jacket. Jim could see she had inserted his keys in the ignition. He slid in and gently shut his door. She was out so soundly, she never stirred when he reached across her and buckled her seat belt. A slow smile crept across his face as he started the truck. Maybe now, with her willing to let others pick up the pieces while she grieved, he could get somewhere.  
  
As he approached his home, he pulled out his cell phone and hit the auto dial. Seconds later, Blair, sleepily, answered it.  
  
"Yeah?" he grumbled. Jim smiled, he could almost see Blair running his hand through his hair and scowling.  
  
"That any way to answer a phone?" Jim asked quietly, glancing at Sam.  
  
"Jim?"  
  
"Score one for the home team."  
  
"What are you in such a good mood for?" Blair asked. Jim smiled.  
  
"Meet me downstairs, I'm pulling onto Prospect now." Jim said and disconnected the phone.  
  
Minutes later, Jim watched Blair emerge from the building's main entrance. He popped open his door and climbed out.  
  
"What's going on?" Blair asked, as Jim rounded the front of the truck.  
  
"Need you to take care of someone while I run a few errands." Jim said as he undid the passenger side door. That's when Blair finally noticed Sam in the seat.  
  
"Sam." he started. She jerked awake as Jim gently opened the door and gripped her shoulder, holding her up.  
  
"Where." She mumbled.  
  
"At the loft." Jim said gently. Sam fumbled at the seat belt. Jim beckoned with his fingers to Blair who instantly stepped forward.  
  
"Dam broke." Jim said to Blair, who was looking confused. Dawning realization appeared in Blair's eyes. Jim switched places with his partner, letting Blair help her out of the truck.  
  
"Sam?" Blair asked tipping her head up as Jim backed away, a slight smile on his face. Sam looked at him and smiled sadly. Fresh tears appeared in her eyes.  
  
"I'm so sorry Blair." she whispered. "Forgive me?" Blair glanced at Jim, puzzled, then smiled at his cousin.  
  
"For what?" he asked, resting his hands on her shoulders. Sam just looked at him a moment and began to cry again, slipping her arms around his waist to reach up and grab two fistfuls of shirt. Blair wrapped his arms around her and held on for dear life. He glanced at Jim, who winked and climbed into his truck.  
  
"I'll be back later." Blair nodded and turned his attention back to Sam.  
  
  
  
The next day, after the first refreshing sleep any of them had had in weeks, Jim insisted they all get into the truck. Sam protested, definitely not feeling up to anything, but finally acquiesced. To the cousins' surprise, Jim drove down to Bayshore Marina.  
  
"What are we doing here?" Blair asked as they all got out of Jim's truck in the parking lot. It was a cool day, grey and breezy. The summer hustle and bustle was gone but that didn't stop the folks from going out onto the water. As soon as Jim got out of the truck a man shouted out a greeting.  
  
Blair and Sam frowned as a man of Japanese descent approached them, reaching out a hand to shake Jim's offered one.  
  
"Hey thanks for meeting us here, Jeff." Jim said warmly. He turned to the others "Sam, Blair, I'd like you to meet Jeff Choi." As Blair reached out a hand to the man, he frowned.  
  
"Choi?" he asked, recognizing the name.  
  
"Danny's brother." Jeff smiled.  
  
"Your former." Blair started looking at Jim in alarm. Jim nodded.  
  
"The same, you must be Sam?" Jeff asked offering her his hand. Sam, totally confused and looking wan, gripped it and nodded.  
  
"Yeah." she said quietly. Jeff smiled brilliantly.  
  
"Jim tells me you're quite the sailor."  
  
"He did?" she asked as the four of them began walking towards the main dock entrance.  
  
"Lived on a boat for almost 16 years now?" Jim asked.  
  
"That's quite a while." Jeff said good-naturedly.  
  
"What's this all about?" Sam asked. Blair glanced at Jim, who was barely containing a grin.  
  
"What this is about," Jeff said as he led them down the ramp. "Is a 36 foot Endeavor, I own."  
  
"A what?" Sam looked at Jim bewildered.  
  
"Boat, Sam, you know, floats?" he said dryly, Sam just looked at him, as Jeff led them down one of the long piers crammed full of different boats, yachts and cruisers.  
  
"My brother and I loved to sail." Jeff said. "We co-owned a yacht and boat rental place. Still have it. I just have a slight problem."  
  
"Co-owned?" Sam asked.  
  
"My brother died a few years ago." Jeff replied. Sam stopped in her tracks. Blair, seeing what was happening, gently pushed her forward. He was suddenly smiling at Jim.  
  
"What is this all about?" she repeated.  
  
"I need someone to stay on my boat." Jeff said and approached a beautiful sloop. The stern proclaimed it as the 'Vitas II'. Blair snickered, slipping a hand to his mouth.  
  
"It better not have a crocodile on board!" He joked in return. Sam just looked confused as Jeff reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He jumped on board then turned and held out a hand to Sam.  
  
"I'm willing to rent her out, for someone who knows how to take care of her. Want to take a look? I'm so busy now with running the rental place that I haven't had time to really look after this one properly."  
  
Sam let herself be pulled on board.  
  
"I could sure use the help until you get your own boat back. Jim tells me it's being repaired?" As Jeff drew Sam away from them, Blair looked at Jim.  
  
"You sly son of a." he started, smiling at him. Jim shrugged.  
  
"She'll be more comfortable here. She can have some time alone to work through all the grief she's been in." he said, suddenly looking a little embarrassed. "I knew Jeff still had the rentals, I just got lucky he had one here." he winked at Blair.  
  
"Yeah." Blair shook his head. "Right!"  
  
"Anyway.you can rent if you like, under the stipulation that you don't sail her alone. You need at least one or two people to help handle her." Jeff was saying minutes later, after leading Sam through the vessel. They emerged out onto the cockpit.  
  
"Sure, sure." Sam was saying, smiling awkwardly. Jeff smiled.  
  
"Great! I have the papers up in my car. Let me go get them." he jumped lightly from the boat onto the dock and headed for his car. Sam, on the boat, was nearly Jim's height on the deck. She looked at him, then she reached out and touched his cheek, gazing at his eyes, still icy blue but no longer intimidating  
  
"You did this for me?" she whispered, as moisture appeared in her eyes. Jim smiled awkwardly. Sam leaned forward and gently kissed his cheek.  
  
"Thank you.." She breathed, her voice breaking with emotion. She slipped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Jim responded in kind.  
  
"You're gonna be fine, Sam, you've got a long way to go, but you're on the road." He said gently. As she thanked him again, a sob caught in her throat.  
  
"Remember. No sailing alone." He said. Sam pulled back, looking at him, her face wet with tears.  
  
  
  
And she smiled. 


End file.
